


Falling into your gravity

by larriebane



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Bonding, Bottom Louis, Knotting, M/M, Mating, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg Louis, Omega Louis, Omega Zayn, Strangers to Lovers, Top Harry, Wolf Pack, sort of society gone wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-03-24 19:42:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3782029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larriebane/pseuds/larriebane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doncaster tribe has suffered from the increasing attacks of the rogue werewolves for months now and finally their pleas have been answered. The Government has sent them enforcements in the form of a family of high standing, the Styles, whose babelicious son turns a certain omega’s world upside down. Poor Louis is just trying to get people believe he’s a beta as his family’s life depends on it.</p><p>  <em>‘I’m not gonna let some hot, spoiled rich brat ruin my life. No matter how cute his dimples are.’</em></p><p> <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/53241549-falling-into-your-gravity-%EF%BC%8A-l-s-portuguese-version">Available in Portuguese on Wattpad!</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Routine

 

“Tomlinson! Switch tasks with Newton. We need to have this thing ready before the weekend,” said the booming voice of his boss, Mr. Magee, his pot belly notably straining the material of his shirt and the middle button was in danger to come away. Louis only noticed this because that was the highest he could get himself to look, his instincts telling him to submissively bend his head to the alpha who he had displeased.

“Yes, Mr. Magee,” he responded, starting to shuffle away from the shelf he had been restocking and taking his ladder with him.

“You’re lucky your mother has spent remarkably long career as a cashier here. Without her recommendations, I would have fired your sorry ass immediately,” the alpha continued and Louis suppressed his shudder at the angry tone - that would just expose his true status.

Making his steps surer, he made his way to Luke to inform him of the switch.

“He did it again?” Luke asked as Louis set the ladder down with more force than needed. The beta’s brown eyes were kind, though, as they had always been. Maybe a bit too kind as he had for some unfathomable reason started to baby Louis – most likely taking pity of Louis’ weaker built.

“Obviously,” Louis sighed, brushing his hand through his fringe. “I don’t know what he expects from me, exactly. I’m not going to grow taller in one night and turn up to work the next day, like, ‘hey, I can finally reach the top shelves. Can I have a raise?’”

Luke’s face held nothing but pity.

“Listen, Louis. I know it’s hard for your family-“

He scoffed, “Tell me about it…”

“-but it shouldn’t be the reason for him to oppress you lot. It’s wrong that you’re slighted just because your mum is raising seven beta kids on her own,” Luke continued despite Louis’ interruption. His never ending pep talk was one of the reasons why he thought the beta fancied him. However, such thing was impossible.

There was no beta-omega relationships out there – at least not those that lasted.

Louis took in a calming breath and was about to express his ‘deep gratitude’ when they were startled by the shout of “ _NEWTON!_ Get your ass here, young man! I do not pay you for tardiness, nor do I tolerate flirting on working hours!”

Luke, cheeks slightly pinked, passed him the ‘gun’ with a compassionate pat on Louis’ shoulder for good luck. Louis gave him a tight smile and watched his coworker’s retreating form for a while before starting to put the discount stamps on the soon-to-be-expired products.

It was after his first coffee brake – which was a ridiculous name for it as any true English person would definitely choose tea over the brown dishwater – that he was reminded of _it_.

The Government had finally given them the needed additional assistance against the attacks. The rogue werewolves – the packless, vicious kind that didn’t want to surrender themselves under anyone’s authority – had harassed Doncaster for months and not until few weeks ago it was announced that a new family was moving there in order to co-lead them.

The Styles family, apparently, if you believed the _Doncaster News_ he was currently putting on display. They were said to be powerful with old heritage but Louis wasn’t sure how much of that was just propaganda. The media, after all, always chose to sugar-coat things such as the real employment opportunities of the omegas. So, it was not without reason that Louis doubted the efficiency of these newcomers.

 _‘If one of my sisters is the next victim, the Styles are going to regret the day they set their feet inside our borders’_ , he thought, taking sick pleasure in thinking the ways he would inflict harm on them.

 

***

 

The end of the last day’s shift left him sore as usual.

Carrying and dragging the massive boxes of daily goods from one aisle to another was taking its toll on him every Friday. His boss’ insults were still ringing on his ears as he made his way home on foot. Using the bus was a luxury for him and he hadn’t been able to use it for fifteen years, not since their dad left them. He kicked a discarded can angrily, making it clatter satisfyingly down the street.

His mood was brightened considerably by the presence of very cheerful blond beta, and also his best friend.

“What’s up, Tommo!” he shouted excitedly as he crossed the street, having just exited the bakery he worked in.

“The same, Niall, the same as usual.” Louis’ tone was weary enough to convey his irritation even to Niall who often had his head in the clouds.

“Magee was a raging bitch, then?”

“That’s one way to put it, yes.”

They stopped at the lights, waiting their turn to cross the big street and watching the expensive cars to pass by. It was a common sight: the betas walking home from their job at the town centre while the rich – those whose income was secured by an alpha in the family – sped past in their sleek cars.

Niall watched them go with a dreamy look in his eyes. “Man, I wish I was born rich. Think about it, mate. You could live in that house,” he pointed at a large house in the distance with impressive balconies and Louis forced his face to represent something akin to indifference, not the burning hot jealousy he felt. “Right in the hot spot of the District of the rich. There would be food, parties, alcohol, own room and food.”

That actually got a smile out of Louis. “I believe you said ‘food’ twice, Nialler.”

“That’s beside the point,” his friend said, brushing it off with a wave of his hand. “You could invite me to your parties once you marry a wealthy alpha and settle down to live with him and your eleven pups.”

_“Niall!”_

_“What?”_ he asked innocently, trying to remove a flour stain on his shirt.

Louis looked wildly around for possible audience. Thankfully all the betas around them had the same expression of concentration on their faces as they made their way to the Beta District where all betas resided.

“You can’t just say things like that. It’s important that no one knows my real status,” Louis hissed to the beta’s ear. He was getting gradually more and more paranoid about what would happen if certain people got hold of the information. Surely, he would lose the job, all his earnings would stop and his family would starve.

The light turned green and the mass of betas surged forward, keen on getting home to their respective families. Louis and Niall stayed behind in order to continue their conversation without any curious ears listening in.

“I still don’t get why you won’t just Bond with some rich bloke to get away from that cunt of a boss,” Niall explained in his usual eloquent manner. Then, he seemingly got an idea. “If a babelicious alpha got on his knees right now to beg you to Bond with him, what would you do?”

Louis fixed him a look that had gotten many other obnoxious betas fall silent, and said, “Refuse his offer, of course. I couldn’t abandon my girls like that.”

The rest of the trip was spent talking about less pressing subjects.

 

***

 

“Mum, I’m home!”

Louis shout was almost drowned under the chatter of the girls who enjoyed the simple pleasure of two school-free days. He smiled at Daisy and Phoebe as he walked past them to the kitchen, giving a kiss to his mum’s cheek.

“Hello, my boo-bear. How was work?” There was a guilty look on her face and the truth got stuck in his throat.

“It was good. I didn’t need to restock today,” he told her, feeling a bit bad for lying but at least it was half truthful. His mum bought his white lie and carried on making dinner a bit more happily.

“That’s good to know, Louis. I wish I could work too but-“

“No, mum, you need to raise the twins.” He hugged her mother from the side, squeezing her to show his appreciation. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Maybe once the girls are old enough, I could give up the suppressive medication and find myself a nice alpha to live with.”

His mother frowned. To be fair, he hadn’t even convinced himself.

“It seems so far away, love. I don’t want you to waste your life, to hold yourself back just because of us,” his mum said, stirring the food on the pan at the same time as she lifted a toy Ernest had dropped from the floor and giving it to the fussy baby in the high chair. She was the real hero here, not him.

“ _You_ are my life. You, the girls, this little lad here. I wouldn’t give you up even for the pack leader.” As his mother’s eyes got a bit misty, the rest of the girls piled into the kitchen, cramming around the small table that should have been only for six people.

“Do we _have_ to eat rice again, mum?” Phoebe asked, looking at her plate in disgust. Louis could relate but after years, he had just gotten used to it. The twin girls were still a bit too young to know they really didn’t have a chance for diversity. Their kitchen had seldom seen real meat.

“It’s a good food, Pheebs. There’re a lot of people who eat rice. Some people never get to eat anything else,” Louis proceeded to soothe her. He made a mental note to ask Mr. Magee for six extra hours next week so he could take the girls to eat at a restaurant.

“Not even pasta!?” asked a stunned Daisy.

Louis leaned to ruffle the heads of his twin sisters. “Not even that.”

After that, all of them ate the food happily.

Sometimes, though, Louis felt so guilty about what he was. If it wasn’t for him, maybe their father wouldn’t have left. _Maybe_ if they still had their family intact, they wouldn’t be watched in contempt. And _maybe_ if he wasn’t such an oddity, someone would have found him good enough for omega jobs, good enough to get a Mate.

That night, he cried himself to sleep and dreamed of living in a big house with a green lawn where his kids ran around, happy and carefree.


	2. Flawed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Styles family arrives in Donny (Harry POV)

Harry’s first thoughts about Doncaster were that it was rich, schematic and something an architect’s city model would look like. This wasn’t a real city. The way the woods had simply stopped and gave way to the geometrical streets and yards – like drawn with a ruler – seemed almost fake.

When he finally laid his eyes on the manor sized house with its long driveway that did a loop around a flower arrangement, he felt a sense of wrongness. He got out of the car, feeling like his life was being turned into a new page – a page that happened to be totally blank at the moment. Behind him, he could hear voices carried by the wind; parts of their parent’s conversation and Gemma’s call with Dr. Deakin, but he turned a deaf ear for it quickly. He always felt bad about hearing his sister talking with the doctor about her _condition_.

Heavy steps came from behind him, crunching the pebbles of the road. “So, that is _the house_?” asked his long-time best friend, “It’s bigger than Cheshire’s pack quarters. Do ya think Doncaster is richer,” he asked, and after Harry shrugged, noncommittal, turned his head to get his Mate’s opinion instead, “Zaynie?”

There was a click of a lighter behind them. “Could be just fooling us, Li, showing off, ya know.” It was followed by the smell of cigarette smoke spreading in the light spring air.

More steps were heard. “Boys, please get your bags from the trunk. We’re already expected by Mr. Winston,” said Harry’s mum as his dad walked briskly past them, carrying what seemed like a quarter of the trunks contents. Most of the bags were his mum’s. It was a curious thing…Bonding, that is.

Zayn and Liam were having a similar silent conversation about carrying the luggage and the deal was sealed with a kiss to Zayn’s left lip corner before Liam hoisted the bags on his shoulder, stealing a loving look to his omega. Harry had to look away. Sometimes it was hard to live with two sets of happy couples.

He picked up his possessions, taking one of his mum’s too, earning him a fond pat on his butt. “Thank you, darling.”

“Anytime, mommy.”

His thirst for knowledge grew as the meeting with the head of the Doncaster pack got closer. He had spent countless hours on thinking what he would be like and now that he had seen the town, he had a hunch about what kind of a man he would meet.

A questioning knock came from the door of his new bedroom as he was choosing a shirt to wear. “Yeah?” he called out, digging through his stuff that he had not fully managed to unpack.

His mum appeared to the doorway, looking a bit worried. He abandoned his search and came to stand beside her as she closed the door behind her. She had the same look of deep-in-thought as Gemma, the trait obviously having transmitted to his sister. They had the same curve in their eyebrows.

“Mr. Winston won’t let Zayn attend the meeting,” his mum looked troubled, “and Liam refuses to be there without him. It will be alright just with the three of us.” It sounded like a question.

Harry let his shoulder bump into the wall as he supported himself against it, leaning towards the most important woman of his life – a position that would pass to Gemma. He had had a feeling for a while now that his life partner was not meant to be female.

“Of course we are gonna be fine,” he said. But this did confirm a few of his fears. “Did he say why denied…?”

His mum dodged the question, not really meeting his eyes. She tapped him on the butterfly. “Put some clothes on, Harry-love.” It was accompanied by disapproving glance at the rest of his tattoos, especially the ones around his shoulders that really didn’t look like anything but yet meant the most for him. “Come to the drawing room on fist floor when you’re decent.”

He nearly put his shirt on inside out, just for laughs.

 

***

 

Ben Winston proved to be exactly the kind of man Harry had pictured him to be. After his first glance at the alpha sitting behind his mahogany desk, looking like a king on his throne, he decided to dislike him – which was a lot coming from Harry, a man who never judged anyone too quickly.

The moment Winston had opened his mouth, he had given away his talent of charming people with his slippery tongue. It was obvious how he had gotten to this position with sweet talk, lulling people into a false sense of security before he abandoned his humane exterior and freed the Satan inside him.

“This is a simplified map of the area. In here, you can see the forest surrounding the city,” Winston was explaining to them, pointing around the map that looked like a target. Or an eye of a person suffering from severe inflammation of the eye. “The red outer ring stands for the area that has the highest security risk. We call it _The Red Zone_. That is where the attacks have happened within these past two months.”

Harry’s father leaned forward, taking a closer look of the map. “How many people are there? You would believe the area is quite unpopulated given the security threat.” He was purely in the leader mode now, stroking his chin as he already planned his battle strategies.

“It’s populated by those who didn’t mind the risks of living in there,” Winston replied, “though there are quite few of them.”

Harry didn’t like the devilish light that had lit behind his eyes as he said that.

His father nodded along. “It’s a big region. Is there enough protectors to cover it?”

“It’s been taken care of.” And if he hadn’t looked like a villain before, he did now. His pointy eyebrows like devil’s horns, pointing mockingly at the heavens. “As for this map, you can see _The Green Zone_ at the centre. That is where you find everything…”

Harry drowned the rest of that out. It sounded like he was trying to promote the area for them, selling it with slogans like _‘This is not just a vision. This is reality’_ , _‘One hundred per cent safe, carefully protected. Anything you need, you can find here. And anything you can’t find, you simply won’t need’_ and _‘Lot of parking space. Good area for raising a family_ (this one with a glance at Harry’s direction)’.

Harry didn’t buy it. The guy had managed to make more racist comments in his speech than he had heard anyone say within a year. In three minutes Winston had make clear he disliked Zayn for being male omega, Islamic, for speaking some other language than English and not having old English roots in his family.

Harry had been unconsciously growling a low grumble that he fortunately hadn’t let past his lips and he focused on the carpet, trying to keep his attention away from further abuse of ethnic people.

“Do you think it would be more efficient if we removed the people from The Red Zone to the Green Zone?” Harry’s father was asking. “It could diminish the required resources and ensure everyone’s safety.”

Winston looked scandalized. “That would cause overcrowding in the city centre! Mr. Styles, The Green Zone was not meant for any larger amount of inhabitants than there is now. If we let these other areas in and act like the fairy godmother, there will be problems with the traffic, the whole facility will suffer-,” he caught himself before he got further. But it might be too late as Harry’s father had at least now understood the uneven distribution that reigned. “I’ll let my specialists look into it.”

Harry, who had been balling his hands into fists, looked up sharply from where he had been intently glaring the carpet. His jaw was set tight, trying to not speak out loud. It didn’t work.

 “ _Specialists_?” he spat out. “You think people don’t know what’s best for them?”

“The people?” Ben asked, incredulously and accompanying it with a forced laugh that resembled a bark. His eyebrows had finally moved from their devil-angle and were now inching closer to his hairline. “Ha-ha! Why should I let the public decide anything when it’s obviously us, policy-makers, that have the real education as our aid?” Harry almost waited for him to make the Napoleon-ish hand position.

 _‘Is he for real?’_ he though. Harry had always been keen on justice, often speaking out when he saw injustice in the world – he had been raised so. “This is 21st century. People are allowed to express their opinions.”

“ _Don’t talk when you know nothing, boy!”_ Winston shouted, a vein pulsing on his forehead and a few others visible on his neck. He straightened and addressed his father, “I suggest you teach your son to keep his nose out of things that are none of his business.”

Harry looked at his father, trying to read how he would answer.

“Harry, go outside,” he said finally but his voice was gentle. Harry rose from his chair, not one for theatrics but wanting to get his point across. He shot an unimpressed glance at the offending alpha, shoulders squared and marched out of the room.

His mum squeezed his hand as he walked past her. She had many reasons to be proud of her son and this was one of them. His Mate would be a lucky person.

 

***

 

Harry knocked on Gemma’s door, politely waiting for the ‘Come in!’ from inside the room before stepping in. His sister was found lying on her bed, some book propped against her raised knees as she lay on her back. He saw she was wearing the cute socks he gave her last Christmas. “You know lil’ bro, you’re probably the only one who has the manners to knock before entering a room.”

“Really?” He made his way to the bed, scooping Gemma’s legs up and making himself comfortable on the bad before putting her legs back down to his lap. “Mum knocks.”

Gemma gave him a look that said he shouldn’t even try to wrap his head around the subject with his inferior intellect. “Not my door. Besides, it’s girl stuff, you wouldn’t understand,” she smirked, nudging him with the book.

Harry watched the daylight streaming from the big windows dance over the pale walls, losing himself deep into his thoughts. He should stop pinching his lower lip between his fingers when he focused on something that troubled him.

He was startled away from his thoughts by Gemma’s finger that prodded his right dimple, or the general place where it would have been, had he even _felt_ like smiling. His sister watched him with the sympathy that was reserved for special occasions, to times when they needed to have heart-to-heart.

“What is it, Harry?”

“Do you think Ben Winston should be the legitimate leader? I mean, the way he treats everyone is so unjust…it’s, it’s not nice.”

“ _Nice?_ Is that the best you’ve got, bro,” Gemma mocked. “ _’Have you seen our pack leader, Gems. He’s_ so _jerk-ish_.’ I bet you couldn’t say a single bad word about him.”

“Hey,” he drew out the word, “I can say things. Ben is…is, uh, is a dickhead, yeah.”

Gemma smothered him into a crushing hug while she apparently attempted to dig her knuckled through his skull. “Awe, my baby is all grown up!” This was their usual sibling-lovin’, however violent the two of them got. Perks of having an alpha sister.

He brushed her off half-heartedly, lips now a bit uplifted. His head throbbed in a sort of phantom pain from Gemma’s affectionate assault. Fixing his curls back into their rightful places – whether they really had an order or not because it was all just semantics, after all – he asked, “But really, Gem, what do you think of him?”

She fixed him a calculating look, working that brilliant mind of hers. “I think his misogyny will turn against him one day,” her eyes did the twinkle again, like having solved a math problem, “Very possibly once everyone gets a taste of what it could be like. What equal rights truly mean. It’s the definition of oppressing when everyone else gets the rights that you won’t get for representing something out of the common.”

Harry was a very proud little brother of the most intelligent woman you could find outside of London but he’s opinion could’ve been just a tad biased. They had often had these little debates with each other, even more usually ending in Harry’s defeat as a result for his younger age and lesser education. His parents and the society wanted him to be a fighter. What _Harry_ wanted, though, was the more political side of thing. He wanted to fight with words, not with teeth and claws.

When he later made his way to his room, he was halfway down the corridor when he hears murmured voices coming from a room on the left. It was not his nature to eavesdrop but he couldn’t help that the sound of his name piqued his interest.

“…worrying me. He’s so…not necessarily unhappy but you know what I mean,” his mother’s voice is grave, concerned tone easily picked even from the muffled sound. “There’s no spark in his eyes. Not the one that was there five years ago. I’m afraid we are suffocating him somehow and I have no idea how we are doing it.”

Harry pressed his palms against the door’s surface, its coldness suiting well with the ice currently going through his blood system.

To no one’s surprise, it’s his father’s voice that answered. “He will be happy,” there was a sound of shuffling, like fabrics rubbing together and Harry presumed Des had hugged Anne, “I am more worried about how he will survive the leadership.” Harry’s heart thumped louder, nearly deafening, as he listened to his parents’ discourse. “You can’t be that soft when you have a pack to protect.”

“ _Des!”_ his mother’s whisper-shout conveyed she was scandalized by such claim. “Harry’s _not_ soft. He’s my son and I raised him to do something great. Not to,” her voice grew quieter and Harry had to press his ear against the door, “be like _him_.”

“I understand that, dear. But it’s a disadvantage now that we are here. If Mr. Winston is like that, do you think the rest of the pack, the omegas, appreciate such progressiveness.”

Harry forcefully had to make him remove from his spot on the door. It felt like he had rooted onto the carpet.

 

***

 

After the grand tour of the pack house and few other quick instructions later, they had gone sightseeing their new town. The four of them – Zayn’s attendance still forbidden much to Harry’s irritation – had taken Winston’s limo and his designated driver took them to meet some of his mates who could tell them more about the situation of the economics and so on.

“We’ll meet my oldest, dearest friend first. He’s made a long career on the food market and could acquaint you with the economics better than anyone,” Winston was telling them from where he sat across from Harry. “He’s store is just around the corner.”

While Harry’s father made the polite exchanges with him, Harry was more interested in the people themselves. The streets were now a lot more crowded than what they were when they had arrived in the morning. People walked swiftly on the sidewalk, cars sped past them and the buildings had their lights on.

The more he looked at the people, the more he felt like they were missing something. There were young people, old people, men and women alike in various clothing styles but he didn’t see any kids running around. No baby buggies being pushed, no toddlers hanging from their mother’s arms, no kids going to school. _‘Where were they?’_

Suddenly his eyes caught sight of smaller houses on the distance, just discerning how they continued row upon row, extending all the way to the horizon until they turned and they disappeared from his line of sight.

“What were those small houses?” he asked from Winston, knowing he was only irritating the man more with his curiosity. It didn’t hurt to ask, though. “Is it part of the Red Zone?”

“We won’t go there today. Nothing to see, boy,” he answered. Harry hated how Winston practically considered him a child. Harry was twenty-one and not much more than ten years younger. It just wasn’t fair. “It’s not worth our attention,” Winston continued and that wasn’t fair, either.

At least he had without meaning to, solved Harry’s problem of finding a good track to run. He was a curious being and he now knew where he would go on his morning jog. The car came to a top, hauling Harry away from his thoughts.

“Ah, here we are! MageeMarket,” their overzealous tour guide said, opening the car door and asking the driver to stay put.

When Harry eventually witnessed the rendezvous of the two mates, it was almost reminiscent to 1979 when the communist political leaders, Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker, locked lips. The bromance levels were palpable.

“It’s good to see you, mate. You seem to have gained some more meat on your bones,” Winston greeted a chubby man who in turn patted his protruding stomach and laughed. He had grey hair but it was difficult to say his age.

They were soon given a tour around the shelves, walking from aisle to aisle until they got closer to vegetables and fruits. Des, who had caught sight of the prices, asked, “How about the lowest socioeconomic class? Can they afford the food?”

The plump man had regrettably poor temper: “No one who has set their foot inside this store has been unable to afford the food.”

It was said with force, the alpha voice clearly shining through and informing them that the matter was closed. Maybe that’s why the following crash was so loud as it echoed around the store. Magee swore very unattractively as few apples rolled all the way to their feet. Harry’s mum did a small twitch at the sound – half from the alpha baritone, half from the want to wash his mouth with soap.

Harry snickered quietly until a small figure slinked quietly to their aisle and started to pick the apples from the floor. Magee didn’t like that, apparently.

“ _Tomlinson, how many times do I have to take the tainted goods off your salary before you learn how to restock the fruit and vegetable department!?”_

The small boy flinched slightly, reaching for the apples and looking notably reluctant about moving his body any closer to them although he couldn’t reach to the last apple, situated right next to Harry’s boot. He kicked it closer, not out of pity, but because he wanted to get some sort of reaction from the boy.

He did glance up after that.

For the first time in his life, Harry might have judged someone too quickly. This was no boy – for all he knew, the abnormally small beta was older than him. But the most shocking about him was the eyes: intriguing shade of blue like pale blue Italian marble and just as cold and hard. The betas eyes narrowed in distrust and he snatched the last apple from the floor, speeding back to do his task.

“I’m sorry, he’s very frail,” Magee started to tell them. “Took him in just out of the sheer goodness of my heart.”

Harry looked at the beta again, now in Harry’s line of sight as he restocked the apples. Once in a while he would look around and clean an apple against his work clothes and take a quick bite of it, munching on it happily. Now that Harry looked closer, there were some signs of malnutrition in the boy – sharp cheekbones, bony wrists and a promise of curvy built had he been eating better – but he would not associate _‘frail’_ with him. There was something very strong about the short beta.

His eyes continued magnetically wandering towards his newest obsession. His scent wasn’t anything extraordinary – just a wisp of citrus that might as well have been his shampoo or laundry soap – so that wasn’t the reason he had fully lost the thread of the conversation around him. When he finally dragged his eyes away, alerted by the sudden silence, he found his parents looking questioningly back and forth between him and the target of Harry’s wandering mind.

He would definitely get interrogated about it later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there,  
> Fast update this time 'coz it's weekend and I was bored again (What's new? Not my lack of social life, apparently.)  
> This chapter just got longer and longer but hear it is. I'm investing in the plot and character development/personality more now so it might take a while before I get the chapter 3 ready. Still within a week though!!
> 
> Thanks for the comment and kudos! It's amazing to see that statictically 1/10 has given kudos for this work! Love you so much!!! xx -M


	3. Derailed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a bit forward...and then back again.

It was everyone’s job as a citizen to keep herself/himself up to date about the news. This was remarkably hard when you had no money to spare for newspapers and you had to work the evening shift – a time before which all the _Doncaster News_ were already sold.

And so it was that Louis woke up around six a.m. to perform his duties as a law abiding citizen which in his case meant going to the park – or rather a solitary piece of clay court as the policy-makers weren’t big on maintenance around here – to hunt for discarded newspapers.

The ‘park’ was as empty as usual but he saw, to his great delight, that the kindness of betas didn’t fail him even now: there was a lone paper draped over a rusty metal bench. On the front page, there’s a picture of the newcomers who – according to the head line – had visited the Security Department yesterday.

The photo attached to the article showed the heads of security shaking hand with Mr. Styles next to their battle plans – that might as well have been the evidence of their heated game of tick-tack-toe considering their so called ‘efficiency’. Louis saw the alpha from yesterday on it, standing on the background and pictured the dozens of female omegas that would drool on this very picture once they woke up.

Louis thought he was nothing mind-blowing – it had been his voice that he had first noticed in him, pleasant, deep and soothing. That had been the reason he had looked up, curiosity taking the best of him, but it was his looks that kept his eyes glued longer than what was considered appropriate.

It was not like he had a favorite combination, but he did have a favorite combination: a soft spot for curly haired, leggy, sexy, sexy alphas, apparently. And maybe he was _just a little a bit_ impressed.

Louis watched the kids play on the clay court, mourning the life and its griefs. No one slept till noon here, not even the children – additional benefits of embracing the danger by living in the Red Zone, or as the public had dubbed it, Beta District. He would have been one of them in the past if things had gone differently. He had played in the school’s omega league before they had run out of the money that had been left by the first prick of a father.

He still got the skills. He prided himself as he kicked the strayed ball back to the little lads, watching the worn leather ball soar through the air and raising a puff of sand when it landed on the ground.

He caught the smell of the alpha from the wind before he heard the approaching footsteps.

“Hi.”

Louis tore his eyes away from the laughing boys dramatically slowly and when they finally came to rest on the alpha, he couldn’t help the blatant once-over he gave him. The middle that had been previously covered by the billowy shirt, was now impressively accentuated by the clinging t-shirt. The abs seen through the fabric sent a pulse through his central nervous system, tingling down his spine.

Louis snapped. “What? No further comments? Asking me to step aside from your path, perhaps? _‘Oops, sorry Mr. Freak, could you kindly get your ass the fuck out of my way.’”_

“No,” the taller man said, his almond shaped eyes opened even wider than their natural state. “I was giving you the possibility to stay silent and ignore me.”

Louis was left stunned. The alpha was now smiling, showing off his nice set of dimples that appeared on each cheek. Louis hated how the man was using his baby face to lower his guards. He didn’t trust him one bit, albeit he had been nicer to him in the past minute than any alpha had ever been to him.

Louis’ companion seemed to shake himself out of some thought and extended his hand. “I’m Harry, by the way. Harry Styles.”

“I know who you are,” Louis replied, although he had had no idea what the alpha’s name was. This, however, seemed to please _Harry_ tremendously. Louis’ head was positively swimming in the alpha’s scent now, more potent from the exercise induced testosterone and adrenaline. It made the air heavier, thicker, as he breathed it in. There was something spicy in it.

“…and you are…?” Harry asked, making a pleading face that resembled a pouting puppy and Louis’ prejudices crumbled to the ground.

“Louis.” He didn’t bother with a surname, though.

“It’s nice to meet you properly, Louis.” His name coming from the alpha’s lips sounded like he was trying it out, caressing its sound with his tongue in ways Louis would rather not have known of. The implication was not lost, though, and he felt ashamed that someone new had seen Mr. Magee going off at him for being too weak to lift the boxes of fruit. _Again_.

“Pleasure was all mine,” he said stiffly, “and if you would excuse me, I’ve to go home.” He grasped the newspaper in his fist and started to retreat from Curls.

“Wait!” Louis stopped but not because an alpha asked him to but because _Harry_ asked him to. “This is the Red Zone, right? Do you live here? Despite the danger? I mean, I haven’t really gotten straight answers from anyone around here and – sorry – it might be very forward….but I want to hear your opinion.”

“We don’t live here by choice. As for the protection, they are much keener on keeping us out of the city centre than actually fighting the rogues.” He actually found himself giving a small smile to the alpha. “Welcome to the Beta District, Harry Styles.”

He left Harry standing there, the alpha’s head swimming with more questions than answers.

On his way home Louis passed a familiar brunet walking beside her rich husband, Max. There had been a time when she had been his friend and worn stupid coca cola –pajamas with him for their sleepovers but that was before she grew too important to mingle with the poor, her skinnier figure glad in designer. He scoffed loudly as he passed the happy couple, _‘Suit yourself…’_

Somehow it hurt a lot less to see happy families walking on the streets than dream about a happy family of his own – that was just a dozen times crueler way of reminding him of what he could have and what he _won’t_ have.

The familiar façade of his home appeared before him soon, the exterior in a surprisingly good shape but the paint a bit chipped form the years of exposure to sun and rain. The porch planking creaked familiarly under his footsteps.

“You smell like an alpha,” his mother upbraided him as soon as he found her in the bathroom, folding dried laundry into a basket that sat above the laundry machine.

“I met one at the park.”

“It’s a new smell,” his mother pointed out, because against the popular belief, betas did scent. They just didn’t sense the different layers in it – ruts, heats and illnesses – like alphas and omegas did. “Are you sure you are alright?”

“’Course I am, mum,” he said, reaching to help but his mother slapped his hand away with a stern ‘Go wash your hands’ so Louis just settled for leaning against the door jamb. “He was from the new family. He’s nice…”

“Oh,” his mum stopped what she was doing, looking at him in concern. It was well-founded, though, as he had never before described a male with positive adjectives, “be careful, boo. I know that the Bond between alphas and omegas is deeper than the strongest of marriages between betas, but I don’t want you to end up like me.”

Louis felt sad for his mum. He hugged her tightly, proving there was no need to be afraid for him. “Don’t worry. It’s not like that. I’ll be here for you and the girls as long as you need me. Did they already leave for school?”

“Yes, they did. They were waiting forward to hear you wish them a good day at school now that you finally would have been there in the morning.”

“I’ll get them something special on my way home,” he promised, still staying in the hug and mentally kicking himself for losing his sense of time because of something as superficial as a good looking alpha. _‘I’m not gonna let some hot, spoiled rich brat ruin my life. No matter how cute his dimples are,’_ hevowed to himself.

“Could you…do you think you could save the money?” Louis looked up at the nervous woman who had apparently forgotten the laundry altogether now, seemingly distressed about something. “I-I just found them this morning. He has t-these spots in his thighs. Ernest, I mean. It could be just allergy or rash but I called a doctor and they sent someone to see-“

“Mum. _Mum!”_ he tried to get his mother to snap out of it, the beta nearing scarily close to hyperventilation. “Shhh…Shhh…it’s gonna be alright, yes? We’ve gone through lot of thing before. This won’t break us.”

“Yeah…alright,” his mother took deep, slow inhales and focused on the exhaling. “It’s…we can’t afford the medicine if Ernie needs any kind of medication. I might need to take a job but who would take care of the kids, then? I refuse to send them to public play school – they’re a nightmare.”

Louis rubbed her back, swaying them a little on the spot. It was easy because of their same height. “We’ll see. But let’s stay positive until we can be sure of the future. Did they say what time they were coming?”

“Many of them were unreachable but a beta doctor was able to come at nine a.m.,” she sniffed and Louis felt the anger boil in him. Home visits to the Beta Districts were very unwanted and the appointments were slotted later in the day, making them wait for the help longer than acceptable just because the alpha doctors wanted to procrastinate the disgrace that came from visiting the poor.

“Meaning he had no other choice,” he spit out bitterly.

“Louis,” her mum chastened him, “be nice. Someone should teach you how to not judge people too quickly. God knows it could be useful.” She shook her head, exasperated, and left to the girls’ room with the clean laundry.

 

***

 

At nine a.m. – suspiciously punctual – the doctor arrived, parking his glossy car in front of the house. The man that came in was obviously well off considering his styled blond hair and expensive clothes that he soon hid under his white doctor’s coat.

“Hi,” he greeted them pleasantly, shaking hand with his mum in the hallway. “Dr. Deakin,” he introduced himself.

“Johannah Darling. It’s so nice that you were able to come with so little warning. I hope the roads weren’t too bumpy.” Louis could see his mum was already a lot less freaked out now that the help was near. Or maybe it wasn’t the help but the _helper_.

“Oh no, it’s not a problem Mrs. Darling,” he said and backtracked after he saw her grimace and observed her vacant ring finger, “Ms. Darling, I’m terribly sorry. I have to admit I left a bit early. I’m still new around here and get lost easily. Are the roads _always_ like that?”

The two adults proceeded to get acquainted with one another, Louis felt like he had been betrayed in some way. His mother and he had promised to look after each other and how could Louis protect her if she embraced the danger willingly and let it charm her with its wicked ways.

Louis glowered at the Deakin Guy, currently in the process of charming her mother’s pants off by entertaining Ernest while checking the red spots in his feet. He watched his slicked back hair, expecting him to twirl his figurative moustache soon.

 _‘Slimy bastard,’_ he thought and soon got enough of the sickeningly smitten expressions on the faces of the two betas. _‘When you’re done wooing my mum and interested in actually tending my baby brother, let me know.’_

In the end, he found himself glaring the ceiling of his room, most of the intensity focused on the darker spot on the roof – a memento for the time the rainfall was so heavy that it created a moisture damage right above his bed. Not that there was anything else but the bed in the room. He had long ago handed his desk over to the girls when they’d started school. It fit better in the largest bedroom that the four girls shared.

He always felt bad when he thought of Lottie and Fizzy, now far in their teens, who had to live with their little sisters who had very different interest because of their age, but Louis guessed that poverty gave you certain perspectives about what really mattered.

Louis had had his own room since his heats started but that had been ten years ago – ten years during which he had needed to start the suppressive medication and act like a beta in order to get a job with a good pay. He hadn’t had a wet dream since then, nearly having forgotten the feeling of slick spreading down his thighs. He wondered if it was possible to miss something so unpleasant just because it was so big part of who you really where.

 

***

 

It appeared that today was Rush Hour Tuesday.

Or whatever was the reason his boss dragged him from his other tasks to run the cash register to relieve the long queues. It had been so long since he had really done customer service and he found himself smiling at the alphas and omegas sincerely. Not feeling jealousy as he swiped the platinum cards through the POS, never running out of patience as they thrust fifty quid note in his hands and he needed to give them small change – still handing them back more money than he could ever afford to spend.

But he was not inhuman and thus incredibly happy when Luke came to the register and let Louis have his well-deserved _tea_ break.

That was until Luke whispered that there was someone waiting for him in front of the Staff Only –door. From the look on his face, Louis was able to tell it was someone high-up. He just hoped his co-worker knew not to withhold telling him if Mr. Magee was hot under the collar.

It was not Mr. Magee but Louis wasn’t sure if this alpha was any funnier to encounter – for different reasons, though, and Louis would rather not dwell on them.

“Hi,” drawled the much-too-familiar-too-soon voice. “I thought I saw you at the registers. I recognized those eyes from afar.”

Louis huffed. “If you have memorized them so well, then there’s no need to stare, innit.”

The smile slipped from Harry’s face like the water leaked out of a broken dam and his expression resembled hurt. Louis nearly kicked himself for it, his buried omega instincts telling him to drape himself all over the unhappy alpha in order to smooth the furrow that had appeared between Harry’s eyebrows.

He settled for a mumbled ‘Sorry…’ while not looking at the taller man in the eyes.

“I’m not stalking, I promise,” Harry explained, twisting the rings on his fingers. Louis hadn’t noticed those before. “I-Could you help me find Marmite?”

Louis felt his face twist into an expression of utter incredulity. “Did you specifically need _me_ to look for it?” Unless this was just a rash topic change and a way to have Louis longer in his company.

“Yeah, kind of. Mum’s cooking and we ran out of it so I volunteered to buy more so I could talk to you. Kill two birds with one stone, you know.”

“Poor birds,” Louis said, smiling a bit. He didn’t know why he had no filter when he was around Curls, why he felt safe to say thing he would never bring up with other alphas. Maybe it was just that once again the curly one had managed to act unlike any other alpha he had ever met.

He hadn’t made an _order_ to fetch Marmite. It was not a _slight_ at his knowledge. It was a _request_ to share his knowledge that only those who admitted they knew less than you made.

_‘Who was this man?’_

As Louis conducted Harry to the ‘food paste’ –aisle, he noticed that the alpha walked close to him; sometimes his arm would brush against Louis, making the omega tense up. It was like he kept falling into some sort of gravity that pulled him closer to Louis and even though he stepped aside many times, he would be right beside him again after the next turn.

It was endearing, frustrating and above all: peculiar.

“Here it is,” Louis said when he finally found the jar. He swore Mr. Magee had some sort of obsession about having _everything_ in his store – the cramped shelves and the vague locations of the goods were a proof of that.

“Yay!” Louis liked how green in his eyes lit up with childish excitement. “Do you think you could have dinner with me tomorrow?”

Louis’ stomach did an ugly somersault. _“What!?”_

“Obviously it’s not like a _date_ date.” Harry was biting the knuckle of his forefinger. “I just want to listen to what you have to say about Doncaster.”

Louis wasn’t convinced. “Did someone make you do it?” He pictured himself being accused of treason or summat if Harry passed Louis’ opinions on to Mr. Winston. It was a painful thought.

“No. No, I’m just curious about the Red Z- Beta District, I mean. And it feels stupid to _just_ talk so I thought it might be nicer to do it while we eat.”

Louis shook his head. “I can’t. That’s a generous offer, really, but I can’t accept it,” he said, trying to turn Harry down as gently as possible. It was hard to say no to someone whose pink, plush lips were made for the perfect pout, though, and he brought up the girls –card that worked every time with Niall. “I mean I would but it feels wrong to eat at a posh place without my family.”

Apparently he underestimated Harry’s generosity: “Take them with you, then. I’m sure they can tell me about Doncaster, too.” The alpha was now biting his lip, making it twice as distracting as the pout earlier.

“I won’t let you pay for the meal of eight strangers,” Louis pointed out, but not to turn him down anymore. Harry’s face showed nothing but surprise.

“ _Eight?_ Then, we’ll take the rest of the food with us. Anything we can’t eat, you can put into a box”

Louis bit back his insults. He had been raised to eat everything he was given and the concept of being too full to eat more was _so undeniably_ District of the Rich –style that he found it hard feel nothing but hatred towards them. Harry made him want to tame his unruly tongue, though. “Is this out of pity?”

“Wha- No,” the alpha’s upset face was enough to certify this was not Take the Beggar into a Restaurant –rave.  In fact, he had never seen a pitying expression on Harry’s face. “I’ve a lot to ask and this is a way to ensure you won’t end the conversation before I’ve satiated my curiosity.”

Louis found himself looking at the worn print of his old Vans. “Alright then,” he answered softly.

“Great,” Harry visibly sagged with relief. “Do you have a number, for further details? Or you could call me. You do have a phone, right?”

“It’s shared.”

They exchanged numbers and Louis annoyingly felt like there were butterflies fluttering about in his stomach. He tried to squish his traitorous nerves by asking about Harry’s sisters and finding out he had an older sister.

“If you aren’t the eldest alpha in the family, why are you the heir?”

“Because of Gemma’s condition. But I’m not allowed to say more. It’s a delicate subject,” Harry explained, looking sad.

Louis felt a twinge of empathy. “It’s not some terrible illness, is it?”

“No, we believe it’s curable and she has a private doctor, Dr. Deakin, to help her.”

Louis saw read. “So it’s _your_ fault he came here to woo my mum!”

Harry startled, looking at him wide-eyed. His fright would have been funny in another context as Louis was good five inches shorter and incapable of really doing anything close to harming someone who had trice the physical powers Louis possessed.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with violence.

However, it didn’t stop him from wanting to shout at someone because of the injustice his mother had faced. “Just _leave_ us alone and take your ‘love doctor’ with you. I don’t want him courting my mum like he’s some sort of fucking saint. But I’m not fooled.”

“Are you sure you mean Dan? He’s a nice person,” Harry came quickly to the help of the asshole, defending him. “I’ve known him for a long time. He’s almost like a family member to us.”

“I don’t care if he was the bloody pope or summat. He’s just like the rest of you lot.”

Harry winced. “B-but I think it’s sweet that they like each-“

 _“SWEET!?_ Oh, please let me laugh,” Louis voice was nearing the indignant too-high-for-a-beta’s-vocal-range voice he always hated when he got mad. “He just thinks my mum is easy. Desperate to have another source of income than her weak son. She just cares about our wellbeing and he takes advantage of that. There’s nothing ‘sweet’ or romantic about it.”

“Why don’t you let your mother decide?” Harry asked and Louis ignored his voice had a frail edge in it.

“Because her judgement’s been incorrect before. Not once or twice but _three_ times she’s been in love and the guy has left her, abandoned us and in the worst case: before my mother had even given birth. So don’t tell me about the wonders of love because there is no such thing!”

For the second time that day, he marched away from the alpha. This time he left him with tears swimming in the curly man’s eyes, rather than thoughts. And if his day wasn’t already ruined, it was when he collided with an unpleasantly much-too-familiar pot belly.

“THAT WAS THE LAST STRAW, TOMLINSON! _Out!_ Don’t even think about getting the rest of the day’s salary. Come back when you remember how to give customer service!”

Louis was kicked out to the streets still on his works clothes, stumbling in order to say up. People stared – not the drivers, they were always too busy – as he looked mournfully at the MageeMarket –logo of the shirt. He was never one to cry, having steeled himself for the girls, but now he did shed a tear or two.

They could never afford Ernest’s medicine now.

He crossed the street to _Mullingar_ where Niall worked. At least he could scrounge a muffin or summat and divide it to four in order to get the girls somethings as a sorry for not being there in the morning. Everything had become much shittier after the newcomers came.

They should just return to the hellhole they came from…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!  
> This is a fast update and I definitely wasn't planning it this soon but I got hyped up bc I BOUGHT THE TICKETTTTT!!!!1111!!! (sorry for the casp lock btw) None of my friends even know what 1D is (the savages!!!) so you and my mum have to just bear with me.  
> Approximated time frame for your sufferig: April 27th - June 29th  
> Things to be noted: may prolong because of Harry fooking Styles
> 
> Leave kudos, comment or rant with me about OTRA. luv ya!!! xx -M


	4. Non-date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: smut (the first four paragraphs got a tad explicit)  
> Larry gets a little closer to each other.

_‘God, it feels good to just give in to the feeling of sex,’_ Harry thought as he watched the omega’s back arch from the pleasure he was giving him. He ran his hand along the hourglass shape of his figure and enjoyed the whines that left the smaller man’s lips as he struggled to take it.

His measured thrusts were becoming less steady, faltering in their movement. It was overwhelming to see the omega bare his neck, showing his vacant Bonding spot that made Harry bit his lips almost hard enough to draw blood.

He shouldn’t.

His swelling knot was starting to catch the rim of the shorter man on every thrust, the omega’s knuckles becoming whiter as his grip on the bedsheets tightened in unison with his hole. _“Do it,”_ he said – nothing more than a breathless moan.

Harry was definitely human – alpha? – enough to be unable to resist that plea. His grip on the omega’s waist tightened until he was sure there would be bruises later; and he came, mouthing the neck of his bedfellow.

As a good alpha, he laid them both down to a spooning position, making it as comfortable as possible for the omega because of the knot that kept them joined together. Harry took the side of the bed that wasn’t against a wall, not risking that the smaller man got hurt because of rolling over the edge.

He nuzzled the omega’s hair, breathing in the fresh, fruity scent and making a gestured request for the shorted man to turn around.

However, something in the universe was against him in that moment as the scenery got misty, his eyes out of focus. The last thing he heard from the middle of the whiteness and before he was jostled out of the bed was, _“Get the hell out of the bed, Curls.”_

Harry gasped, his chest heaving noticeably as he looked around the room. The daylight was too bright as it hit the pale walls and closet doors, forcing him to squint while he took in his surrounding from his position on the floor. There were no omegas on his bed, its sheets tangled as he had tossed about during what appeared to be the Most Elaborate Wet Dream of the Rest of His Life.

Luckily, today was the day he had been given permission to sleep in for they had border patrol that night. And as Harry looked down – the end of the bedcover still wrapped around his ankles and his sleep pants tented uncomfortably – he realized the extra hours would truly needed.

He planted face first into the plush carpet and groaned.

When Harry finally deemed himself fit to join the others downstairs – after a wank and a cold shower because that particular morning wood had been abnormally stubborn – he was wished good morning by the image of Liam and Zayn exchanging spit beside the kitchen counter.

“Ugh, why does this keep happening to me?” he moaned, albeit his heart was never in it. “My poor eyes!”

Liam broke off the kiss, looking at him reproachfully. “If you had woken up earlier, we would still be sleeping.” Then, after really looking at his friend, “You alright? You look like shit, mate.”

“I feel like shit,” Harry said. “But thanks, Liam. I enjoy your lack of sugar coating when it comes to my appearance.”

Zayn looked ready to interfere if they started a full-blown alpha melee. Liam didn’t seem willing to start any sort of physical fight, though – probably saving it for the night’s patrol. “Hey, if this is about the time I told you your hair always looked the same, that was _one time_.”

“And one time too many,” Harry muttered under his breath as he walked to the coffee maker. He needed his caffeine or he would be too out of sorts to function properly.

Zayn, who had stayed silent to this point, said, “You’ve been crying.” It wasn’t a question.

Harry sighed as he sat down to the stools surrounding the kitchen island and nodded pensively. How did you tell that you were afraid of the past, the present and the future in a few intelligible sentences? Especially when you didn’t know the full truth yourself – caught somewhere between denial and disbelief about having feelings for someone you shouldn’t have feelings for in the first place.

“Have you ever felt like you really want something that’s illegal or impossible to get…or both?”

Liam’s thick eyebrows came closer together. “Are you talking about drugs?”

“Jesus,” Harry exclaimed while Zayn smirked with his tongue between his teeth. “No. I’m not talking about drugs. I actually wish it were that easy. What I really meant was that I am afraid I’m fallen for the forbidden fruit.”

“How poetic,” Zayn mocked him. “But I say go for it, mate. If this person makes you happy, that’s the only thing that matters.” The omega then reached his hand out for his Mate. “You two should start preparing yourselves. The visit to the school is in a few hours.”

“I’m _so_ looking forward to brainwashing the innocent kids,” he grumbled and watched the retreating forms of the couple with barely concealed wistfulness.

 

***

 

Mr. Winston was a bad, _bad_ man.

The best villains always followed the same pattern: moderately handsome with inborn charm, cunning and in the possession of an obvious shortage of empathy and consideration towards those who are weaker.

That’s why Harry found himself on the courtyard of an old school; having just exited the building after giving he kids a lecture about what safety measures would take place now that his family was there – or giving them the belief that something would be done. It really was just a big pile of rubbish.

He knew exactly what kind of game Winston was playing; the game of victimizing dictatorship. The Government had specifically asked for his father because their family had been one of the best at management strategies for decades. They had money to pay for the best home school teachers and the overall atmosphere of their ancestry promoted justice. Something this pack leader had never heard of, obviously.

Harry watched as the kids ran around, free and blissfully unaware of being used as puppets to Winston’s private puppet play. He wished he had the power to end it but it wasn’t something to be accomplished solo.

However, one person on the yard did manage to do something on his own – capture his attention, that is. The beta’s aspects of young and old created a unique mix that was hard to misidentify.

 _Louis_.

Currently he was standing beside the iron gates with a baby propped against his hip, looking around as if waiting for someone. Harry was fairly sure he was there for his sisters and although he had no idea where the beta lived, it must have been nearby. Harry knew there was a possibility that Louis would not welcome his presence but he was not one to let the matter go when he had upset someone.

“Hello, Louis.” Harry was glad to note the beta didn’t look too upset because of him. “Here to meet the girls?”

“Harry,” Louis acknowledged him and glanced quickly around them, at people giving them curious looks. “Mum asked me to pick them up. I owe them it, anyway.” The beta fixed his hold of the baby girl who was unblinkingly staring at Harry with blue eyes similar to the ones that had haunted Harry for a few days now.

It gave his already too active imagination some boost. ‘ _Pups. Definitely.’_

“Is your mother busy today?” Harry asked, knowing he was reaching the limit on the number of polite inquiries – at least when it came to Louis who was a very private person.

“Her only job is to be with the girls. Mum’s at the pharmacy.”

Harry froze. “None of you are ill, right? There must have been a reason why Dr. Deakin visited you.”

That was out of the line. “It doesn’t really concern you,” Louis replied but smiled a bit and Harry knew he wouldn’t be completely brushed off yet. “I’m sorry by the way. I’ve very gently been showed that my judgement had been too quick on this certain case.” Louis seemed to be one of those people who are reluctant to apologize when their opinions have been proved wrong. It wasn’t necessarily a good quality but it added to the beta’s charm – a bonus to even out his good qualities, like loyalty. “Apparently ‘Dan’ is a gentleman and very generous one at that.

“I guess I was a bit wound up because my baby brother was sick. It turned out to be just some rash caused by the elastic thingy on the diapers or some shit like that. Hypersensitivity for synthetics, I think they named it,” he continued. “But it wasn’t very charitable of me to shout like that when you had given no real reason for my outburst. So, I apologize. If you still want to ‘listen to my opinions’, I think I’m free today.”

Harry’s heart jumped somewhere to the general direction of his esophagus. “Don’t worry, Louis,” Harry reassured. He didn’t hold grudge very well. “I would have done the same if I thought some knobhead was hitting on my mum. And I would love to have a dinner with you today. Pick you up at seven p.m.?”

Louis grinned. “It’s a date…just not in the literal sense.”

 

***

 

“Why do the menus have to be in Latin?”

They were seated at a table for two in a restaurant that was located right at the town centre. It certainly was posh, given the way the dimming light of the day still reflected from all the silver cutlery, chandeliers and gilded decorations. Harry looked over his menu at the irritated beta with bemusement. “It’s French…”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Louis huffed and rolled his eyes in that normal attitude of his; a kitten trying to be a tiger. “I mean what’s the reason for these ‘wall events’ or whatever! They’re all the same gibberish to me.”

“ _Val-au-vent_ , Louis.” Harry liked the way the shorter man’s name sounded spoken with the appetizer. He would love to speak French to him for the rest of his life if it meant he could enjoy the way ‘ _Louis’_ sounded when he pronounced it.

Louis’ lips quirked upwards. “Should have known you would master it. What was it, Curls? The Art of Charming Omegas with Fluent French 101?”

 _‘Curls?’_ Harry’s smile slowly seeped away as his mind provided him the flashbacks of his vivid dream. _‘It couldn’t be…it was impossible. What exactly is my mind trying to tell me?’_

The beta was looking at him with equally frozen expression, the sudden silence was heavy in the air and their menus lay abandoned on the table.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have been that bold,” Harry’s companion spoke finally.

“No, don’t stop,” Harry rushed to answer after he had shaken himself out of it. “I like when someone is confident enough to tease me.” He hated the way people considered themselves less worthy than him just because he was born to lead. The alpha had gotten enough of the bows, adulation, all the fawning adoration – no one was valueless; they shouldn’t focus their appreciation just on him.

“ _Impertinent_ enough to tease you, more likely.” Louis’ correction was like Elizabeth Bennett telling Mr. Darcy that he was mistaken about her liveliness. The beta sipped the water their waitress had already set on the table. “I thought I came here to take part in some cross-examination but whatever floats your boat…”

Harry frowned. “I’m just not sure where to start.” He fiddled with his hair, brushing his hands through it several times before he couldn’t use it for procrastination any longer. “How about twenty questions?”

“What are we? Eight?” Louis snorted. “But okay. Ask away.”

Harry felt ashamed that he had practically made a list of things to ask from Louis. He started with the most pressing. “Rogues. What is the uncut version of the truth?”

“Do you think it’s possible to both hate and love someone for what they are doing?” Louis asked. Harry wasn’t anywhere near getting the beta’s point. It must have showed on his face as Louis suppressed a grin. “I mean I hate them for the kidnaps but at the same time I find myself envying their freedom; their options to choose what they want to do with their life. They are feared yet looked up to for not surrendering to the repression of laws. That’s the truth.”

Harry started to feel like he was getting better at handling Louis – mostly based on the fact Louis hadn’t got mad at him as yet.

They jumped straight to the main course when their waitress returned to get their orders, setting some garlic bread on the table, because Louis refused to have any _Cretons de Chez-Nous_ or anything else that ‘sounded like some hipster had given a fancy name for a burger to sell it for a higher prize’. Harry grew more and more impossibly endeared.

“You said you couldn’t choose things. What things do you mean?” Harry asked right as the clicking heels of the woman retreated.

Louis seemed to search for the right wording, looking cute as he eyed the bread on the table. Harry pushed it closer to the beta. He needed to eat more than Harry did – not that he would tell Louis that feeding him was part of his plan.

“Jobs, mostly. They are divided to three categories: management for alphas along with security, caretaking and service jobs for omegas and whatever is left is given for betas. However exceptions do happen; like your family friend, Dr. Deakin. Usually doctors are alphas as they have the possibility to be educated the longest.” The beta sounded bitter now. “And I’m sure you guessed there was the problem with money involved. The Beta District has the lowest rate of pay _and_ the lowest level of education which is manifested in the jobs we get.”

“…and you don’t think you are paid enough?”

“On the contrary, I’m getting more than enough.” Harry’s chronic state of total confusedness was starting to frustrate him. “I just have more mouths to feed. Otherwise I would have ditched the d-” Louis paused, suddenly remembering who he was with. “Never mind.”

As much as Harry disliked people insulting other people, he wouldn’t have upbraided Louis for saying a bad word about his boss. It was wiser, though, to not talk about it while dining at a restaurant occupied by the worst gossips of the ‘upper class’ who had no other joys in their life than to spread rumors about who was warming whose bedsheets.

Louis was now looking outside to the streets and Harry took his chance, admiring his profile and sliding his gaze lower to the collarbones that were visible because of the low neckline of the burgundy shirt. The smaller man had dressed quite smarty today – obviously having put noticeable effort to the way he looked – and the clothes fit his figure much better than his hoodies or his work uniform. Harry had almost lost the whole point of the non-date after he had seen the beta. It had taken a herculean effort not to ravish him right then and there as Louis had hopped into his car.

 _‘Why do you look so sad and why don’t you let me make it better,_ ’ he thought as he looked at the gloomy expression on Louis’ face. As if on habit, he followed his line of sight and found a sporting goods store across the street. He suddenly remembered how Louis had professionally handled the ball yesterday as he had passed it to the boys on the clay court. Harry took a step into the dark again.

“Do you play footie?”

The blue eyes snapped back to him, blinking a few times as if processing the question. “I used to.” When Harry was brave enough to ask why despite the danger of Louis shutting down completely, he added, “They weren’t that pleased about my…,” he hesitated, “outer appearance and my family’s resources were running short.” Harry got the feeling he wasn’t lying but not completely telling everything. He also was very much pissed off.

“They kicked you out of the team because you are smaller than average male!?”

“Yeah,” Louis smile was positively puzzling, like he was sharing a private joke with someone. Harry wanted nothing more than to understand it, too. “It had something to do with male, alright.”

At that moment they were doubly interrupted as their food was served at the same time as Harry felt his phone vibrate. Unfortunately he had to check it for possible patrol updates and fortunately it turned out to be just his mum who asked where he had sneaked off to.

_Having a dinner with a new friend don’t fret mum. see you soon xx –H_

From the corner of his eye he could see Louis trying not to spy his screen but after he laid his phone on the table, the beta’s curiosity took the best of him and he asked about Harry’s background image. That was followed by the whole story of How Li Met His Zaynie in great detail with as many puns as he could muster – which was a lot as Harry had realized his jokes prompted smiles from Louis and how keen he was to hear about the couple.

Many times he found the beta smiling in a way that lit up his whole face when he said something funny – the hard expression softening like sun peeking behind a cloud. Harry hoped there would be a time when Louis smiled like this just because he saw _him_.

It was around that time that he felt that magnetic pull again.

It was like an alcoholic trying not to drink but found hid hand creeping closer to the bottle because of the absolute _need_ for it.

 _‘Did I just compare Louis to some drink? Jesus, get a grip, Styles...’_ Harry thought but admitted he really was addicted to the company of the smaller man. Whether he had decided it beforehand or not, he always found himself getting physically closer to the beta.

It was normal for soul mates to gravitate towards each other, though that couldn’t have been it as Louis was a beta and straight – except some of his reactions gave Harry hope that he was a tad bit interested. Moreover, _Louis_ was not being pulled by _Harry_. It was actually the opposite: the closer Harry got to him, the more the beta tried to push him back.

He just didn’t understand why. Louis was in possession of the biggest heart he had ever seen yet he refused to let anyone in it.

“Shit. Winston.”

Harry was startled out of his daydream by the sudden disappearance of his dinner company and the clank of the cutlery against the plates as the table was jostled a bit. Harry only had about four seconds to note there was a hand gripping his shin under the table and a pack leader addressing him on his right.

“Unsuccessful date, Harry?”

He didn’t like how he was just _Harry_ again; Winston acting like he had never insulted his intelligence and experience in life. “You could say that. A bit sad, though, I liked this one,” he said just to get the mandatory exchanges over, skirting skillfully around the gender specific terms.

“It’s getting late,” Winston pointed out, not very kindly, snooping around the table as if the half-consumed _Bouillabaisse_ would give him answers about Harry’s mystery date. “I hope you’ll come on time to the Security.” Harry’s breathing hitched slightly as there were now nails digging through his jeans.

“Yeah,” he answered, trying to subtly reach his hand under the table to soothe Louis. “Yeah, I’m about finished here. I’ll be off soon, Mr. Winston.”

The man nodded his approval and marched away with an air of authority. Harry watched him go until he grew a bit too conscious of how exactly he was holding Louis.

His hand was wrapped around the back of the beta’s head, drawing circles to his neck with his thump. The gesture was innocent in itself but the intimacy it presented was definitely, inevitably Mate stuff. Louis felt uncommonly tense and Harry lifted his hand back like it had burned – it did tingle for a while.

When Louis finally emerged from under the table, his cheeks were flushed. Harry’s intrinsic alpha purred in content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry,  
> This must have been my longest time without updating but I cound't write for a few days as I was visiting my aunt who lives at a farm and there's no internet connection there...  
> Excuses, excuses... :/  
> But I hope it was woth the wait, I tried t make it the best I could - and what you deserve and not some half-assed thingy.
> 
> Anywayyyy...thanks for all the kudos, comments and bookmarks and let's not forget any subscribes!! xx -M


	5. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do ignore my lame attempt at writing something action packed. Anywayyyy, also ignore that they magically keep their clothes on during metamorphosis.

_“…overcast tomorrow. The showers that are presently in Scotland will stop by tomorrow mid-morning. Later in the afternoon, wind will bring rain to Northern Ireland after dark. Temperature will be low to mid 60’s. Clouds will be hiding the sun until the weekend,”_ declared the telly that they had turned on; just to hear the late weather forecast as usual.

Louis sighed. Apparently the weather agreed with him about the gloominess of this world. The girls had abandoned their positions beside him on the big couch in their humble living room – most likely having something to do with the fact Louis still reeked strongly of alpha after the Winston-incident earlier that day.

The suppressants were _supposed_ tostop the endorphins from forming in his brain but they could do next to nothing when it came to the ticking biological clock inside Louis.

It had been hard to not put his hands on Harry as soon as he had slipped under their table and even harder to ignore the feeling of secureness that had come from gripping his leg. Louis wondered if he should apologize for any scratch marks he made by trying to restrain himself from jumping the alpha’s bones.

It was getting harder for Louis to control himself and unfortunately, also his family was starting to notice it:

“I’m sure Louis’ life is not clouded over if his company today was anything to go by”

Louis gave a withering glare at the traitor grinning on the floor in front of the telly. “Already reporting me to mum, Ms. Blabbermouth?”

Lottie grinned even wider. It seemed that their mother had hired her eldest daughter to spy on her firstborn. Louis wasn’t pleased and neither was his mum who had heard the jest, having just entered into the room.

“What is this I heard, Louis? Have you been seeing the new alpha again? The ‘nice’ one?”

Louis squirmed under all the attention – although he normally liked to be in the front and center – as his eyes met the looks of both curiosity and disappointment on his girls’ faces.

“So you have a boyfriend?” Daisy asked accusingly. She looked twice as betrayed as Phoebe who had settled to just looking at his big brother in contempt. “You should’ve told us...”

Louis felt lost. “I-it’s not like th-“

“So you don’t fancy him, then?”

Louis paused, long enough for the girls to climb back onto the couch, flanking both his sides. Fizz sniffed his hair a bit, humming approvingly.

“He smells nice,” she said, making the twins giggle and snicker behind their hands. “What’s he like?”

He looked at the expectant faces of his sisters and sagged deeper into the bumpy cushions. “Harry’s…,” he searched for the word again. ‘Nice’ didn’t seem to cover it anymore. “He’s polite, unique…quirky.” Unconsciously he had started to smile, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt like a smitten teenager. His mum looked at him worriedly – they always seemed to sense when their kids developed a crush before the children acknowledged it themselves. It was a _mommy thing_.

“Louis is in loo-oooove,” Lottie jeered by singing it ridiculously off-key, dancing out of Louis’ reachable distance in order to escape the consequences of her mocking. Louis was sizing up the couch’s pillows.

“Take your pillow fight to the bedroom, Louis,” their mother said, putting the babies’ crib ready for the night – another thing for Louis to feel guilty of. His mum had to sleep on the couch with the babies beside her just because she had sacrificed her sleep patterns in order to give him the privacy of an own room. “I need to put the little darlings to sleep. Could you-“

The rest of the sentence was drowned out by the voice of hell breaking loose. The earsplitting noise of the dreaded alarm rang through the air, clear like a gunshot in the night. Jay collected the babies back from the crib, shouting orders at them.

“Turn the lights off!”

Lottie and Fizz jumped out of the couch to run through the rooms, the clicking of the switches was heard clearly as the house dimmed gradually until only one light was left upstairs, illuminating their path to their safe place.

This was the first attack in months. It shouldn’t have been this shocking yet the girls ran mindlessly around, feverishly checking that the doors were locked.

By sheer adrenaline, Louis dragged the twins upstairs to the only room with a lock on the door: the bathroom. It was a tight fit but all his sisters found a place to sit – whether it was on the floor or on the toilet seat – and his mum squeezed in with a crying twin baby on each arm.

“One, two, three…six,” Louis counted. “Where’s Fizz?”

A voice of breaking class and a scream was all he got as an answer. “ _Stay_ here and lock the door!” he shouted and pushed the door closed but his mother blocked it, face ashen.

“Won’t you come inside?” Her voice was near breaking and she had the babies in death grip, holding them as close to her chest as she could. Louis shook his head, taking a last decisive look at the faces of his family and turned around, running downstairs and taking the stairs in few, dangerous leaps. The girl’s pleas for him to come back were ignored.

“ _Just lock the damn door!”_ he yelled for the last time before taking in the scene before him.

His gaze swept the floors for any sings of broken glass but there was none. “Fizz?” he asked, being conflicted about whether he should shout in order to be heard by his sister or stay silent so he wouldn’t attract the attention of the rogues. His heart was substantially throbbing, sending the adrenalin saturated blood through his body in an accelerated rate as Louis whirled around, searching for signs of his sister.

A movement on the corner of his eye caught his attention and it proved out to be the curtain of the living room’s window, waving along the cold air that flowed inside through the broken glass. Louis’ breath caught in his throat.

 _‘Not_ my _sister, you disgusting fuckers!’_ he thought as he ran to the window, winching as he stepped on a shard of glass, but still continuing through the opening. As he caught the sight of the intruder carrying his sister – he was proud to note Fizz had put on one hell of a fight – by road and heading to the woods, all other thoughts were wiped from his mind.

He didn’t think about the cut he had on his sole, he didn’t stop to think how much more hours he would need to work before they could afford a new window glass; his mind was all focused on coming up with a strategy to win.

Considering the man was on his normal, human form, he could be a beta and thus the underdog when faced with an omega in wolf form – for a beta was considered the least primal of the statuses and who found it hardest to execute a successful metamorphosis. On the other hand, carrying a fully grown, tussling, fifteen-year-old beta was not easy when you had paws.

Louis took his chance.

 

***

 

Louis felt his eyesight getting sharper as he calculated the distance between him and the brute who now had reached the end of their street. He felt the unfamiliar movement of the four legs under him as he sped after them, noting – to his relief – that the man was considerably slowed down by his struggling sister.

Once he reached them, he saw the kidnapper’s legs in front of him as if giving him an open invitation. He sank his newly elongated teeth into the shin of the rogue, enjoying the man’s scream of pain in some sick way. Louis felt the coppery taste of blood spreading in his mouth; as unpleasant as it was welcome. A few drops of blood smeared his caramel fur.

Fizzy was wise enough to scramble free when the captor’s hands loosened around her, landing ungracefully to the ground and taking off to the direction of the house. Louis relief was cut short as he realized he had gotten out of the frying pan into the fire.

“I’ll teach you a lesson about respect, you little bitch,” the man said, voice full of hatred. The smell that hit him before the man changed form should have been clear enough a warning sign.

Alas, Louis was not fast enough.

The half changed hand of the man swept the air, catching Louis’ front with its sharpened claws. The scratch burned like a spreading fire was raving on it – and Louis was not a warrior; he felt his wolf form slipping away as his legs collapsed under him.

 _‘Stay put. You can’t win him in physical power but you can overcome him by wit,’_ he told himself as he lay on the ground, the moist asphalt dampening his clothes as he forced himself to stay motionless. Both his injuries were throbbing to the beat of his heart and his breathing was a bit too frequent to pass as unconsciousness. He didn’t know if it was the shock that made his eyesight hazy.

“Not so tough now, are ya?” Louis felt the newly-changed-back man spit somewhere close to him. “We’re supposed to bring you lot unharmed to our headquarters but I just might make an exception.”

A growl came from between some buildings on their left.

“Ah, it seems someone wants to have some fun, too,” the alpha pointed out pleasantly, motioning his friend closer. The new alpha was darker in color, almost black in the darkness as he stepped out of the shadows between the houses.

Louis’ eyes were heavier, insisting to slip closer. Occasionally he would try to blink away the tiredness but it was harder and harder to open them. As he felt the last remnants of his energy slip away, he heard the growls of the two alphas fighting over him. Time was an unfamiliar subject suddenly.

“Louis. _Louis_. Open your eyes,” said a voice.

Louis felt like he would jump off a cliff if he asked – just _after_ he had taken his nap.

“NO! Don’t fall asleep,” the voice ordered. Louis felt like punching him but unfortunately that required moving his arms. “I dunno if that’s a real thing but…please, Lou. Don’t die on me.”

 _‘Die?’_ The omega somehow managed to snort. The cold ground disappeared from under him and arms were lifting him up. A strand of hair – or what he hoped was a strand of hair – was tickling his right cheek. Louis somehow was able to maintain consciousness, inhaling the spicy scent and listening to the mumbled sweet nothings to his ears.

“Just hang on……my brave, little omega.”

 

***

 

“What an Earth you were doing in the Red Zone? Your priorities should have been here, in the Green Zone!” Harry grimaced at his father but otherwise didn’t show any signs of regret. Moreover, most of the scowl came from the pain shooting up his arm as Dr. Merriweather was plucking the pebbles out of his wound. “Good Lord,” his father bemoaned, “don’t tell me it’s about the beta you’ve been seeing…”

“My lips are sealed,” Harry said, irritating his father even further. “Besides, even the betas are pack members. And I have to protect the pack.”

They were at the hospital where he had shown up with Louis, handing the smaller man over to the nurses who promised to take care of him. Thankfully it had been only when they had noticed Harry’s gash on his right forearm – he had been glad none of his tattoos had been deformed – when his father had come in. Soon they were in a private study and a doctor had been called to tend his wound.

“There were troops protecting the Red Zone! Your place was to follow my lead and block their access to the Green Zone.” Des was pacing back and forth, walking the length of the office time after time. He looked a lot alike Winston at that point with his pulsing vein but Harry knew his father was a good man. “You shouldn’t let your own interests affect your judgement.”

“And you shouldn’t be blind enough to believe that it is protected,” he bit back. “I was there. There were no troops.”

Des let out a little laugh like he didn’t know whether this was one of his son’s quirks or not and even less sure if he should even laugh at it. Then he just shook his head, coming to a stop with his pacing. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes,” Harry almost growled. The antiseptic stung like bitch.

His father seemed to deflate. “That’s what I feared,” he said and now it was Harrys turn to be irritated. If he suspected something all this time, why hadn’t he listened to him? “It seems that he has something the rogues want. Something he keeps in here, in the town centre.”

Harry perked up, earning a slap from Dr. Merriweather who was now trying to put stiches on his arm. “Really? So it’s not just oppressing?”

His father shook his head, a frown on his face and he resumed to his pacing. “Even Ben Winston is not that bad.” Harry barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “What I think, is that he needed a constant number of protectors around this…this something, and given the limited resources, decided to put thing into order of importance.”

“Sounds like he needs to sort out his priorities…” Harry muttered glumly. His father came to a stop beside him and set a hand on his shoulder. He looked proud.

“Not everyone is fit for the role of a leader. Only those with the purest hearts can lead fairly,” he hit his back with firm pats. “I’ll expect great things from you, son. You truly are a god man.”

Then he left, leaving Harry stunned and a more than a bit touched.

“Isn’t Dr. Deakin on duty now?” he inquired from the doctor, wondering how they weren’t able to get hold of him.

“Dan left to the Beta District for home calls. There’re many patients waiting,” she explained. “Not that shocking when you think of all the injuries people have gotten from stampedes and the people the rogues injured.”

She put the last touches to his bandage and gave him the OK to go outside once he had taken some painkillers with the water. Alphas tended to heal fast but it was for best that a doctor helped the healing process into a correct start.

Finally he could see Louis again.

 

***

 

After several wrong turns and lots of sweet talking later, Harry found himself in front of room 249. He pushed the door open, alerting the omegas in the ward of the presence of an alpha but his eyes were only on one of them.

Louis was on the hospital bed closest to the window, looking at Harry like he hoped he could pinch himself away from the nightmare. There weren’t any signs of severe damage on him and Harry sat gratefully down on the chair next to the bed. The smaller man followed the movement like a prey animal watches a predator – his secret was out now, so it was understandable.

“Hi, Louis.” The omega just swept his gaze over his ‘roommates’, looking for anything to get himself out of the situation. “It’s good to see that you’re alright.”

The blue eyes finally met his green ones. “This is an omega ward. They won’t let Unbonded alphas in here,” Louis said, narrowing his eyes. “Or did you use some of those fluent French skills of yours to charm the pants of some poor nurse?”

“Nope,” Harry grinned a bit. “I convinced them that I’m _your_ alpha. And then scampered away before they could check the files.” He sounded unnecessarily smug even to his own ears. Louis remained unimpressed with him, his widened eyes the only proof he hadn’t missed Harry’s emphasis. “But really, whatever is the reason you’ve hidden your true status, your secret is safe with me. I assume your family knows but no one will tell a soul if you so wish to.”

“Thank you,” Louis said and his expression softened by one of those famous sunny smiles. He seriously had no idea how he had the alpha wrapped around his finger just with that uplift of his mouth.

Harry leaned forward to get them some privacy. “So it’s really the job?” he murmured. “Why you are taking the suppressants, I mean.”

To his surprise, Louis didn’t shy away. “Yes. It’s better paid than any other option,” the omega explained, “I had always wanted to be a teacher, though, but that’s impossible for a male omega – at least when Mr. Winston is the leader. I think they are afraid of the consequences of hiring us.” Louis’ voice got even quieter towards the end of the sentence. The other omega patients looked a little ‘high class’, no doubt eager to spread a story if they were to hear a juicy one.

Harry’s phone notified him of a text message and he thumped the screen to swiftly check the sender. He scowled a little as he read his father’s command.

“Seems like my time is out,” he said, his stomach doing a cartwheel at the disappointment that flashed across Louis’ features. “It was nice to chat with you, Louis.”

He almost missed the quiet “It was nice to see you too, Harry” from behind him as he retreated out of the room because he hadn’t been expecting it. Not when Louis finally said his name and not just to state it, no. He said like it meant something for him. Suddenly his heart felt a lot lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah,  
> This was fast. Summer is coming closer and school work is lessening so I'm bored again = updates, yay!  
> I have conflicting feelings about this chapter so please tell me your opinion <3 it's very much needed right now!  
> PS: more irish leprechauns in the next chapter
> 
> All the love xx -M


	6. Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffity-fluff, I think.

Louis watched the baby; her hair forming a swirl on her forehead that was darkening in color as it grew longer. A spoon was in her plump fist and she waved it around vigorously, smiling so that her yoghurt stained, chubby cheeks dimpled. A loud, drawn out burp came from across Louis.

Louis pursed his lips. “I’m reconsidering my choice of taking the babies with me. Soon their first word will be ´c-u-n-t’.”

Niall laughed like that hadn’t been an insult about his vocabulary. They were sitting in one of the tables in _Mullingar_ , enjoying the beta’s break by sharing batch of misshapen doughnuts that had been taken out of the selling. The Irishman had his apron off, the piece of clothing currently lying on the back of his chair. “Then why did you take them,” Niall asked, reaching to wipe his sugary hand on the apron.

“Mum is meeting a wedding planner.”

Niall stopped his rubbing process short. “Blimey…they’re proper gone for each other, aren’t they?” Louis also thought it was terribly soon, the Styles and their doctor having been here about a month now. “Is he a good bloke?”

“Yeah, I believe this one is,” Louis said, smiling as he though how her mum had been so much happier recently. “Dan even got his ‘friends’ pay the worst expenses.”

“Oh yeah, the Styles are loaded.” There was a dangerous glint in the beta’s eyes. “When’s the big day?”

Louis sighed in relief; the disaster was avoided – for now. “In three weeks. It’s gonna be stifling in those suits…” he groaned dramatically. Niall was nodding along in sympathy because even though he would be there too, he was not under the same duress. How do you stay dashingly handsome when there’s 80 degrees and you were wearing attire that was as good as a heat collector?

“So how’s it going with the Curly One?” Niall asked, earning a scowl from Louis. The alpha was a taboo subject as they had promised – too many complicated feelings, too strange memories to comprehend and definitely far too much longing to be a healthy talking point. “There’re lots of rumors you’re able to hear while working behind the counter; a date in a restaurant, the remake of every action movie where the Prince Charming saves the damsel in distress-”

Louis stole a doughnut from his plate. “That was Disney, you dimwit.”

 _“Oi!”_ shouted the indignant, now-doughnut-less beta. “Watch it! Or you’re gonna get fat.”

Louis paused, his hand half-raised to his mouth and counted the pros and cons of eating the offensive pastry – nothing deep-fried was ever good for his shape. Then again, it could be just Niall trying to fat shame him into giving the doughnut back.

He took a bite of it anyway. “And? I’ll find someone who finds my big, big butt attractive,” Louis said, speaking exaggeratedly with his mouth full. Niall mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘ _Keep that up and they’ll scram…’_ but Louis ignored it. “But I suppose I should watch my lines. Otherwise I won’t fit into my suit and mum will assassinate me for breaking the dress code. That would cast a cloud over the wedding, I’m sure.”

Niall found great delight in the possibility of the bride committing an infanticide right before walking to the altar. “You already have dresses chosen? Quite the tight schedule, mate,” he cackled, face a bit pinked from all the laughing.

“Yup, mum’s one of those people who hate being single. I, on the other hand, am a sworn bachelor,” Louis answered but that only managed to evoke another round of raucous laughter.

“ _You?_ Your illegitimate life turns to mush like a bun in water once Mr. Crater Dimples makes an appearance.”

Louis stuffed rest of the doughnut into his mouth so he would be unable to answer. He chewed slowly.

As if on cue, Niall’s was asked back into the backrooms. “Right. I need to go back to work. The flour sacks ain’t gonna lift themselves.” The beta ruffled the twins’ hair quickly before he donned the apron, retreating to the direction of the staff door.

Louis shouted at his rear, “Watch your knee, fucktard!”

His friend didn’t slow down but turned his head sideways to shout over his shoulder.

“I knew you cared!”

 

***

 

Louis mum looked beautiful in her white dress as she stood in the middle of the wedding dress shop.

It was frilly on the sleeves, showed a bit of bosom but his mother was an attractive woman despite the few gray hairs – the result of raising seven kids who were not known for their attention span and tented to show signs of mild hyper activity. Louis would not go further into the subject of the three previous jerks of father figures.

“I’m so happy, Louis,” her mother said as she was turning around, looking at her gown with interest. “I can’t believe I got so lucky to get someone now that I have passed forty.”

“No, mum, _he’s_ lucky to find _you_ ,” Louis corrected her from his position on the couch were he had been watching the fitting. The girls would be next as they were all bridesmaids with the exception of Lottie who had, as the eldest daughter, gotten the title of maid of honor.

Jay smiled fondly at his firstborn but this time it wasn’t the wistful kind of smile – the one that said, ‘I wish things had gone differently’ – because Dan had made things better. “Thank you, Boo. Has Dan texted?” There was a sparkle in her eyes, _joie de vivre,_ like Harry would say.

Louis considered hitting himself but he checked the coffee table beside the couch instead. “No messages,” he said, looking at the phone screen void of any notifications. “I can distract him, though, if he arrives early. Buy you enough time to get the dress off before he sees it.”

“That would be lovely.”

Louis got off the couch and went to stand beside the showcase so he would be first to see the _Ford_ pull in to the parking area in front of the shop. From behind him, he could hear the saleswoman fussing about, offering different accessories that would go well with the dress and the overall theme of the wedding.

The oldest two of his little sisters were groping the dresses, all conspiracy-like, whispering together – planning their own weddings, probably – whereas the twins were giggling together beside the tiaras. Louis was glad to note they had maintained some of those innocent, princess ideals.

A familiar, black SUV parked in front of the building, the even more familiar blond head of Dan soon peeked out of the opened passenger door and the owner of the car fixed his curls as he got out of the vehicle.

 _‘Shit._ Shit _. Shitshitshit,’_ Louis thought as he hastily backed away from the window and alerted the others of the men. “Shi- Mum, you better get a move on! Quick! Dan’s coming!”

Jay’s head snapped up and she gave a frantic glance at the door. Swiftly, she picked up the hems of the dress and ran behind the curtains of the dressing room just as the bell above the shop’s door jingled.

Louis remained on his position in the middle of the shop, not feeling at all relieved that the disaster of the groom seeing the wedding dress before the wedding was avoided. It had everything to do with the lanky alpha standing beside the beta doctor; hair swept carelessly to the side so some of it hanged almost in front of his eyes. And Louis was definitely not ready to see him – his speeding heartbeat was a proof enough – now that his defenses were still down because of their last encounter.

He barely heard the girls greeting their step-father-to-be, his eyes still locked to Harry, though this time sliding along his body.

Now that it was June, Harry had pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, revealing several tattoos that had previously been hidden by the longer sleeved shirts. He wished he had been more conscious during the rescue, felt Harry’s strong arms holding him up. The alpha’s hands were absolutely massive and the omega in him couldn’t help but wonder what they would feel like on him…in him-

“Ah, groom and best man, I presume?” said the voice of the saleswoman who appeared from behind the curtains, having finished helping his mother out of her dress.

_‘Best man…? God, I’m not going to survive this wedding.’_

Louis’ eye contact with Harry broke as he went to shake hands with the salesperson, exchanging some small talk, charming the omega in seconds. Louis felt a white hot anger flare inside him, uncalled for, as he watched how the woman fixed his hair, cocked her hip forward and pushed her chest out.

Thankfully Harry’s body language told he wasn’t that interested in anything further than the polite exchanges.

“I’m sorry, Jay dear,” Dan apologized when Louis’ mum exited the changing rooms, now on her civies. “I should have texted that we’re coming earlier than expected. I just lost the sense of time somewhere along the way.” He took her hands in his and the two of them proceeded to look as love-struck as they probably were. “Harry here couldn’t shut up, either.”

“Oh? So it’s my fault now?” said Harry, although grinning widely. “I love weddings. I’m sorry if that brought you any inconvenience.”

The participants were introduced to each other – in the girls’ case with many sassy remarks and not so subtle glances at Louis’ direction – and when Jay shook hands with Harry, Louis held his breath.

However, he shouldn’t have been worried.

With several skillfully placed compliments and that eternal dimpling of his, Louis’ mum looked about ready to give them her consent. Louis couldn’t believe how the girls were nearly fighting for the alpha’s attention, asking him to give advice what bridesmaid dress style looked the best on them. Louis was torn between _‘Mark me now!’_ and _‘Fuck me against the wall!’_

Louis was hovering next to the mannequin wearing cream lace, mostly wishing he could just become one with the fabric and camouflage himself from all the embarrassment he had gotten from the girls, when Harry finally addressed him.

“So…they found the dresses.”

“Yeah,” Louis replied, looking at the long, white dresses that were now being admired in front of the mirror. Thank God, they weren’t revealing – Louis didn’t feel like pushing horny teens away from his baby sisters – although Lottie was able to fend for herself at the age of seventeen. He smiled. “They’re beautiful.”

Harry’s voice was soft and low as he answered, “So are you.”

It was absurdly bad; a king amongst all the ridiculously cheesy comments – but it didn’t explain why Louis felt like there had been a central heating switched on inside him and his sassy remark positively melted before it got past his lips. Rarely was he left this dumbstruck

“Have you- did you and Dan find what you were looking for?”

Harry almost preened under his undivided attention. “Yep, we chose the flowers – white and pink roses – Dan fitted on his suit and I bought a blue scarf to go with the white/blue dress code.” Louis’ heart swelled. Trust Harry to be too quirky for the mainstream ties. “And you? Have you found a suit?”

“I actually have,” he said. It had been blue, far too expensive for him to afford it otherwise but cheap compared to the budget that had been given to him by the Styles. Even when the money wasn’t his, he felt bad – cringed at every price tag that had too many zeros for his mind to take. To him, it wasn’t that easy to give up, to suddenly stop saving money. “Nothing spectacular; don’t want to steal the attention from the bride.”

They fell into a semi-comfortable silence until the alpha asked if Louis wanted to hear a joke. “Knock knock?” he said, lips pressed together from either trying not to smile or from sheer concentration. After Louis’ (for a good reason) wary _‘Who’s there?’_ he answered, “Hawaii.”

Louis didn’t know if he should be relieved that this was an unheard one, or be afraid of the unknown future and what would happen if he humors Harry.  “Hawaii who?” he asked anyway.

“I’m fine. Hawaii you?”

Now it was Louis’ turn to press his lips together, looking to the ceiling and trying to eliminate the laughter that was starting to bubble inside his chest. That just made him look fond and a giggle passed through his lips.

Harry looked back at him like his world had stopped – or the people in it had disappeared, leaving Louis the only one that mattered. It was overwhelming to be in the receiving end of that kind of indivisible focus.

And Louis liked it.

“Would you go for a walk with me?”

 

***

 

Harry walked beside Louis. The weather was warm as May was turning into June. Louis had abandoned his jeans jacket, leaving his tan arms bare. There were a few cheap tattoos on his arms: a smiley face on his forearm, another one on his wrist and a stick figure on a skateboard.

Harry was intrigued.

“Is there a story behind those?” he asked, pointing at the omega’s forearm.

Louis’ eyebrows rose. “They’re really just smiley faces. Not that I have drunk tattooed myself; I’ve never drank alcohol.” The _‘can’t afford it’_ was clearly detectable in subtext.

“My mum insists my tattoos don’t look like anything but I have a few tattoos to represent those who I love,” he told Louis, this time pointing at his own left shoulder. Louis eyes followed the movement closely. “Here’s one that says Gemma in Hebrew.”

Louis lips quirked and that sassy glint appeared to his eyes. “What? Not French?”

“You’re never letting that go, are you?”

“Nope.” His grin was impish. “Multilingualism is for the posh and consequential, thus giving us, the insignificant ones, something to mock them for.” Harry could see he was enjoying the situation immensely. Not every time an alpha gave him the OK to go on and ridicule him but Harry was a liberal soul and he loved when the omega got sarcastic even if the jokes were on the alpha’s expense.

“You don’t know any languages besides English, then?” Harry refused to admit he had been thinking of teaching Louis himself if it meant he could hear what, for example, Spanish sounded like coming from his lips.

“Well, I’ve done research about sign language. There’re a few hearing-impaired children attending school every year in Donny and they are not able to get the education they have the right to.” The way Louis sounded so impassioned about children made Harry think of green lawns where kids ran around while Harry sat aside, arm around Louis’ waist, hand lying on top of his rounded stomach. He wished Louis would dream of something similar. “So I thought they deserved to be considered – and if I ever got to teach kids, I would like to be able to teach them, too.”

 _“I can speak it, too.”_ Harry signed him.

Louis eyes widened. He was definitely impressed and Harry felt like it was his life’s biggest accomplishment up to date.

The first drops of water fell from the sky as the grey clouds creeped over them, covering the sun. Harry had hardly noticed; his personal sun was right beside him, letting him bathe in its brilliance. And when the asphalt started to get blotchy from the darker batches created by the large water droplets, Louis had made no move to put his coat back on.

He was looking at Harry with countless secrets and stories in his eyes, and if Harry looked close enough, he could almost see the green lawns, kids and the young couple cuddling on the blanket.

Without any preceding signals, Louis’ arms pushed between his hands and sides, sneaking around his middle, the omega pressing his face against Harry’s chest. He could feel Louis’ heartbeat, erratic through the thin top he was wearing. His couldn’t have been any less wild.

He looked down at the shorter man, his cheekbones that created shadows on his face and the lashes that started to glue in to each other as they got wet from the moisture that fell from the skies. Harry brought his hand to Louis’ jaw, pushing his thumb against his cheek lovingly – checking the reaction it would get. When the omega leaned into the hand, lips brushing against the alpha’s palm, all inhibitions crashed to the ground.

Harry pulled Louis into a gentle, searching kiss that tasted like tea and raindrops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ciao!  
> This is it! Larry is happening <3  
> Sorry for the word count, by the way. I swear next chapter is going to be 4-5K to make it up for you, dearies.  
> A massive thank you for those comments you gave me about the last chapter! They absolutely flooded in and you managed to convince me that it wasn't a big pile of rubbish :)))))
> 
> Happy mother's day everyone! (I should be drawing a card but I already baked a cake and for some unknown reason I was more keen on drawing a certain Mr. Styles...) Lots of love xxoxxox -M


	7. Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: fluffy smut...I think <3

The day Louis’ life changed for good had dawned bright and sunny – yet thankfully below 80 degrees and thus not laying people open to a heatstroke.

Louis had woken up early to the sound of his mother fussing about downstairs, apparently having been too keyed up to sleep any longer. He had spent about an hour solely for snaffling the iron, the vacuum cleaner and the dishbrush out of her grip. It was _her_ day, not the Clean the House –day.

At present, there was no sign of any cleaning supplies, even though one, still very nervous-looking bride stood in the middle of the room. The girls flapping about around their mother’s dress, smoothing down any wrinkles on the fabric and admiring the veil they would soon be carrying while Louis escorted Jay to the altar.

He wasn’t looking forward to it. Apparently Phoebe had problems, too.

“I can’t find my hair tie,” she bemoaned, hand brushing through her blond hair that was now falling around her shoulders in loose locks. “It must have dropped. _Lou_ - _u!”_

Louis tore his eyes away from the cloudless, blue sky and stepped away from the window. His gaze searched the floor but he knew there would be no time for it. He plucked a ribbon from a near bouquet and proceeded to tie his sister’s hair up with the velvet.

Necessity knows no law.

“Dear Lord,” their mum muttered as the clock struck three. For having done this trice, she was panicking a lot. Louis liked to think it was because this time, it mattered the most.

He took her hand so that his mum’s arm was linked through his. The girls picked up the veil and Lottie sneaked to the altar before them. Jay’s steps were sure, though, when they started their march.

When the church doors finally opened in front of them and the familiar tune of the wedding march started, Louis’ mum was almost dragging him along the aisle. People stared (mostly the invited non-family members) and it was not just because of the bride – they were equally interested in the pint sized beta that they had often seen in the presence of the co-leader’s son who ‘coincidentally’ happened to be the best man at the wedding of the beta’s mother.

Louis didn’t look at Harry, not when he could sense the eyes boring into his back, but he did lift his chin up and made his steps longer in order to get to his seat faster. It was not like they had proof that there was some flirtation going on. They hadn’t even kissed since the fitting. Their encounters consisting of just talking, doing some groundwork; building a sturdy foundation for their…whatever they had.

The ceremony turned out to be a success: the roses that were blooming fitted the church’s light décor nicely and the guests had followed the dress code surprisingly well. Louis’ mum was beautiful, the girls were beautiful, Dan was handsome in his deep blue suit and beaming smile, yet Louis’ gaze slipped past all that – to Harry.

Louis would nervously search for the alpha, as if needing to find him in order to get some inner peace – that should have told him he was far too deep, deeper than he had ever meant to let himself. Several times he caught him blinking, subtly wiping his eyes and Louis would hold back his exasperated eye roll but he couldn’t muster a real attitude as his throat felt a bit tight, too.

But more than those several times, he caught himself checking Harry out, eyes hungrily traveling down his body. When he had considered Harry quirky for choosing a scarf, he had been underestimating the hot mess that was Harry Styles.

Black slacks, dark blue shirt, low neckline, fedora…everything.

He hoped the real reception would start soon because for the first time in his life, he was in need of a drink. Preferably a strong one.

 

***

 

The reception didn’t really help anything.

Although he had gotten a bit tipsy before the speeches, they did nothing for his treacherous mind that was dangerously attuned to every nip slip Harry made. The alcohol should have made him numb but instead it just made his attraction grow more potent as he watched the curly alpha stumble through his speech.

Harry couldn’t be praised for much coherence but the self-depreciating jokes were his advantage and they got everyone smiling widely. He was not a person who felt bad to stigmatize himself as a goof. Thankfully the knock knock jokes were saved for a time when everyone would be considerably drunker. The rest of the speeches followed – Lottie’s speech leaving everyone almost doubled over in laughter – and they shared a lot of fond memories and embarrassing moments.

The moment when the wedding waltz would take place arrived soon, leaving Louis in charge of Doris and Ernest’s entertainment. His two-timing bastard of a friend had abandoned him for a pretty beta named Melissa…or was this Barbara. A scowl was etched on his face as he looked at the dance floor that all the happy couples were occupying. The small, round tables had been situated around the place, leaving a moderately sized square area free in the middle of the hall.

His pouting was interrupted by the arrival of a surprising visitor.

“Is this seat taken?” asked a gorgeous woman, her hair dyed into a pastel pink – perhaps to honor the wedding. There was something familiar in the shape of her eyes and the mouth.

“Nah, whoever sat there can find his seats elsewhere. I’m not too fond of him at the moment,” he answered, angling the buggy so that the woman could sit next to him beside his table. She smiled lovingly down at the babies and at the sight of the deep right dimple, Louis guessed who he was dealing with.

“Gemma Styles, right?”

“ _Louis Tomlinson, right?_ ” she parroted and continued with a normal tone, “But you don’t really need to answer. I’ve gotten too much information of you from my brother.” The last bit was made with a meaningful glance at Harry who was performing his duties as a best man and danced beside the newly married couple with a random girl.

“Oh, do tell me what the baby giraffe has said about me?” He was only half joking.

Gemma smiled wryly. “ _’Oh, Gems! What should I wear? Oh God, say that this shirt brings out my eyes. Lou likes my eyes.’_ And those are just a few of the worst ones.”

Louis was truly entertained. However, the twins were not.

“Sorry for this,” he apologized as he placed Ernest on his lap. “This fussy fella here is my baby brother. Say hello, Ernie.”

“Ga.”

“I believe that means ‘hi’…” he said, looking back at Gemma who had a wistful smile on her face. Suddenly the conversation with Harry flashed through his mind and he felt chills running down his back. If his assumption was correct, it was the worst thing that could happen to anyone. So bad he couldn’t just bring it up.

Luck was on his side.

“Can I hold him?” Gemma asked after a while and when the baby switched laps, she continued, “You know, I don’t like children that much.” Louis raised his eyebrow. “Don’t get me wrong, I love them. I just have never wanted children of my own. Still, I wish I had been given a chance to have them if I someday changed my mind.”

Louis felt bad. “Isn’t Dan helping you with it?”

“Harry told you that?” she sighed. “He is the optimistic out of the two of us if you hadn’t noticed, so. No, it’s probably not curable. Adoption is a thing, though. It just lowers my chances of getting a Mate.”

Louis had never had to comfort someone who was unable to have children. The word ‘ _infertile’_ was like a knife cutting to his chest. He could never survive if the ability to have kids had been stripped from him. Or perhaps it was, in a different way.

“Oh, don’t look so glum. _You_ have nothing to worry about. My brother has made too many comments about your ‘wide, childbearing hips’ to be even a little a bit disinterested.”

 _‘Has Harry really said that?’_ He felt like whacking the alpha in the head but he wasn’t sure if it would turn out to be a passionate kiss instead. It simultaneously felt like the highest of all compliments.

 

***

 

“You,” said Liam, voice meaningfully slow and even, “are bad influence, Louis Tomlinson.”

The omega giggled, not taking Liam seriously. He looked like the guy who let people ruffle his feathers until he made empty threats about needing to cut it out. Zayn was grinning beside him; looking proud of the fact the two omegas had just flicked pieces of food towards the alpha. Liam still had a trace of whipped cream on his cheeks from a piece of pastry Zayn had thrown at him.

The utter disbelief on Liam’s face had been enough to get Louis burst into shaking laughter. _“What have you done to my Zayn”_ had been the first words that had gotten past his lips after he had recovered from the shock.

“Don’t be a spoilsport, Li,” Zayn commented, sharing a secret fist bump with his partner in crime.

That shut the puppy-man up pretty quickly.

“So you are representing the Dan’s side of the guests,” Louis started casually, picking apart a muffin that had survived the food war. “Do I need to give you the ‘if this ends badly, I’ll hang you from your balls’ -talk?”

“Doesn’t seem to be ending soon, to be honest,” Liam said, pointing his chin at the main couple of the day who were now slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Harry was nowhere in sight, along with Niall who had gotten notably drunk from the copious beers he had consumed – it had to be the heat that was messing his ability to hold his liquor.

Louis tried to refrain from smiling at the happy couple in order to keep up his drama queen act. He did admit he was quite drunk. “Ugh, why does _everyone_ have to be so sickeningly happy…?”

It was a valid question – in his mind, at least.

Louis glanced to where the girls were talking with Gemma and keeping company for the babies. Now there was someone who wasn’t so happy and coupled up. He had left Ernest and Doris at her care gladly if it meant lessening her anguish. All that talk about infertility made Louis biological clock tick in several times faster pace. He wouldn’t mind getting knocked up right then and there.

“Who are the other guests from Dan’s side anyway?” he asked after some time, tearing his eyes away from his sisters. Liam looked contemplative.

“Some are his old colleagues and Uni roomies from Cheshire and Manchester. There’re a few cousins, too but I think they live in…in…Lancashire. Is that a place?”

“Yeah, it is, babe,” his Mate answered. Louis rather liked what they had: Liam was the brawn and Zayn was the brain. “But they live in Lincolnshire.” The alpha-puppy looked at Zayn gratefully, thanking him with a peck to the omega’s immaculate jawline. Louis’ chest hurt. They were the Dream Team, really.

Until the peck turned into a full-blown, You Hold My Whole World in Your Eyes –gazing that included staring deeply into each other’s eyes, gazes flickering between eyes and lips before silently, slowly leaning in. Louis didn’t want to be the bitter single guy/third wheel, but he was.

_‘Alphas, why can’t they control themselves…?’_

He then forced himself to look at less painful things, such as Harry’s familiar form making its way through the dancing and swirling crowd. The sight of Harry without his suit jacket did funny thing for his body.

“Hiya,” Harry said to Louis as he sat down beside him. The corner of his mouth shifted into an amused smirk as he took in the furious making out that was in process on Louis’ other side. “I see you have gotten caught into one of _those_. Drink?”

Louis looked at the glass of champagne that Harry was handing to him. He shouldn’t but at the same time he needed to. He grabbed the glass and took a big gulp.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Harry asked, his eyebrows in a concerned-looking angle. “When you’re not used to consume it like that, I mean. You’re not Niall and – thank God – not Irish, either.”

Louis licked his lips, tasting the fruity after taste of the expensive liquid. Harry’s eyes followed his lips intensely. Louis didn’t know why he had gotten brave like that but if it meant Harry was going to follow every one of his even distinctly sensual movements like _that_ , he wasn’t going to complain.

“More champagne?” the alpha asked, voice deeper and rougher than normal, almost shaky…or perhaps it was just in Louis’ mind.

“What? Do they just hand this stuff out like it was bottled water?” Louis was feeling left out. All the drinking had left him into a funny, float-like state. He leaned closer and rested his head on Harry’s shoulder. “Or you just talked the poor waitress dizzy?”

“Nope,” the alpha replied, popping the ‘p’. “She was putty in my hands after _‘Bonjour!’_ ”

Louis felt a tad putty, too.

 

***

 

Niall had taken Harry aside for a moment. At first he had been reluctant, having suffered through all the compulsory ‘obligations’ of the best man, only to be stopped when he had _finally_ been able to spend the rest of the party with Louis.

“Listen,” Niall had started, quite sober suddenly, “Louis is my buddy and believe it or not he’s the most sensitive people there is. He’s uncertain about himself; he’s quick to fall in love and a soppy romantic along with a massive mommy’s boy.” Harry had been suddenly very much interested now that the subject was about the – his? – omega. “Don’t hurt him.”

“I would never even _intend_ to do anything like that,” he had promised.

And now when he had Louis on his arms, swaying along the slow song in the back ground, he was sure he would rather hurt himself than to harm Louis in any way.

The dance floor had mostly cleared – Z and Li had never even touched it as the omega would rather keep his dignity intact – and the two of them were practically just hugging in the middle of it, shifting their weight from one foot to other in order to create some sort of illusion about dancing to the beat.

Louis had his arms around Harry’s middle and refused to admit it was because he couldn’t reach them around the alpha’s neck properly without _feeling_ five inches shorter. ‘ _Cute’_ , he thought as Louis nuzzled his nose against his shirt. He was impossibly endeared by his drunken handsy-ness.

His own hands drifted lower from Louis’ waist, enjoying the curve his spine and rear formed. The omega had come shapelier, his wrist not so bony anymore. Harry ran his hands back up, along Louis’ back and almost stopped dead when the smaller man started to purr quietly – but he did continue, placing his chin atop the omega’s head.

When the music stopped, he didn’t want to let go but Louis’ fought his way out of the alpha’s arms.

“I need to get rid of this jacket. I’m being practically roasted inside it,” he grumbled, nose wrinkled. His cheeks did seem to be more flushed than normal. Harry touched his palm to Louis’ forehead.

“You’re burning up.” Harry frowned. “I’ll get you something cool to drink. You’d better sit down somewhere.”

With a glass of water – and a few ice cubes he had nicked from the champagne cooler – on his hand, he returned to find Louis who was sitting at a table nearest to the door. He looked half displeased, half lost to the world. _‘He isn’t having a fever or summat, is he?’_

“Here,” he said, for the second time that day offering a drink for the omega who accepted it gratefully. Fat lot of good the first one did…

“It’s not working,” Louis said after a few sips. “Or it does for a while but it gets just worse. The draft coming from the door helped for a while before you came there.” He scoffed. “Funny, that.”

Suddenly a scent Harry had earlier regarded as some pastry invaded their space. It was a delicious mix of something fruity and flowery, very fresh and very, _very_ strong. He found himself breathing it in deeply, letting his head swim with it – and it wasn’t before his needed to adjust himself in his jeans that his whole body came to a screeching halt.

“Louis,” he said, trying not to talk in a way that would use too much of his amount of air in his lungs. It would do them nothing good if he breathed in any more than he already had. “I can smell you.”

“ _You what?”_ The omega looked irritated but groggy. “You know, there are nicer ways to let your – uh, whatever we have – know that his deodorant is failing.”

Harry growled in frustration.  Louis was making it impossible for him to stay mute. “No, I didn’t mean to say that _you_ smell. I meant the fact that I _can_ smell.”

“Fuck.”

Now Louis seemed to lose a bit of his muzzy state, looking alarmed at the champagne glasses on the table, left by the previous occupiers. “Shit,” he continued, “shitshitshit. This is bad, really bad.” He looked pale – or as pale as someone could when his cheeks were pinked from the flush of a heat. “How could I forget it? Stupid idiot–”

Harry gathered it would be wiser to cut him out right there in order to get a real explanation without all those terms of abuse. “Forget what, Louis?”

“Forget that the package of the suppressants said I should not consume narcotics during the regimen – and alcohol was included.” Louis hugged his arms around himself as if protecting himself from any intimacies of all alphas present. Harry wasn’t sure if he was included into those threats but he needed to get Louis safe.

“C’mon, then,” he said, touching Louis arm around his elbow – carefully calculating the places that would be the least connected to any kind of sexual act – and hoisting the omega to his feet. He was looking at him in mild distrust. Harry smiled crookedly and said, “I might be a male alpha but I do have morals. Let’s go to the car."

 

***

 

The car was a fairly good idea until they noticed Louis scent grew more potent in the confined space.

Still Harry had started to drive, their speed slowing gradually as it was harder and harder for Harry to concentrate on not crashing the car, until they came into a total stop. Harry laid his forehead on the steering wheel, knuckles white around the leather. The alpha seemed to scold himself for not having enough will to continue driving.

Louis was impressed, though – not that he could voice his though. Nothing stayed long enough in his mind. Except one thing.

“No, Louis,” Harry said again, slapping his hand away from where it had started to creep up the alpha’s tights towards his crotch. “You’re not making this easier.”

Louis whined a bit, wiggling about under the movement inhibiting seat belt. The lower belt created a nice friction on his lap though a little a bit lower would be golden. He decided to take it off and this time, Harry was too far gone to put it back on.

“And what if I want it?” he asked, climbing over the console and almost hitting his knee to the gear shift in the process. Louis proceeded to straddle the alpha, studying his thighs under his bum. His mouth formed an impish smirk once he felt a large hand on his back side.

“And what if someone sees?” Harry quipped back, obviously still trying to talk Louis out of it. They were somewhere in the Beta District, half way to Louis’ new home – Dan’s house. It had gotten dark outside; all houses in the distance were without illumination as it was long past a beta’s average bedtime.

“No one will see,” he replied and trailed his fingers down the silky material of Harry’s dark blue dress shirt. He’s fingers rested on the belt’s buckle for a while.

There wasn’t any real teasing involved.

Clothes were thrown haphazardly on the passenger seat, on the backseats, a lone scarf was tangled on the steering wheel and some items of clothing had stayed on – not a conscious decision; they just hadn’t had the time or patience to remove them.

When Louis positioned himself and sank down, sighing in relief with his eyes closed and lips slightly parted, the omega felt Harry brush his fringe away from his eyes. It felt better than any dirty talk ever would.

He started a pace that was sometimes erratic, and then picked up the rhythm again, overwhelmed by the image of Harry coming undone beneath him – because of him. He didn’t really choose what sounds exactly came out of his mouth, too keen on mouthing the skin on Harry’s neck that was salty from the dampness of sweat. He didn’t mind gripping his hair now and then, either, just to hear the deep moans he would make. Louis rather liked he had an erogenous scalp.

As he got closer to his peak, he listened to their racing hearts and the quivery breaths as they continued showing their love for each other in the only way available after words failed them. Harry’s breath fanned the skin on Louis’ neck as he nibbled it cheekily, making Louis turn into an even more incoherent mess.

It was incredible to watch Harry reach his highest pleasure, showing him more vulnerable than Louis had ever seen him and it felt like this was every person’s realest state of being – without any pretense and masks.

Then again, Harry was the most honest person he had seen. And Louis thought his feelings were quite close to the taboo L-O-V-E…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voila!  
> Sorry I'm late.  
> Hope the smutty part was worth the wait (and readable). I'm having mixed feeling about all things x-rated.  
> Kudos, comments, anything if you liked it ;)))))
> 
> Happy wheel larrow for everyone xxxxxxxx -M


	8. L-O-V-E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.

“…there have been only a few losses in the last month,” Winston was accounting for them. “I think it’s very safe to say they have been diminished by your presence. All the better for us if they have had a scare.”

Harry barely heard it.

It seemed that after what happened in the evening of the wedding – and half the night – nothing seemed to seep through his curls other than Louis. _Louislouislouis_. It was rather concerning. However, there was nothing he could do about the dreamy expression on his face as he stared out of the window, leaning back on his seat.

“Around how much exactly?” he’s father questioned from the seat next to him.

“Few omegas and betas.” There was no elaboration. Winston merely corrected his posture behind the mahogany desk, his hands entwined on top of some files lying on the wooden surface.

Harry’s father was not impressed with the answer for obvious reasons. “Very well. No alphas?”

“Of course not,” Winston says exasperatedly. He riffled through one file – mostly to get an air of superiority. It was all about that alpha stuff; comparing penis sizes, competitions about who has the most expensive SUV in the neighborhood, but it mostly made it look like he was sidestepping giving the real answer. “They’re strong enough to protect themselves.”

Des poked the sleeping dragon and went to question the leader. “Are you sure they are really taken to increase their ‘packs’ in size? What _I_ think is that-“

“Nonsense.” The leader laughed it off. “What other reason could there possibly be?”

Harry shifted in his seat, now a bit more intent on listening to the conversation. Winston glared at him, as if daring him to not ‘mind his own business’. What he didn’t know, was that Harry was immune to any kind of pressuring – he was not as dependent on maintaining a massive ego and thus falling prey to challenges.

“Forcefully kidnapping doesn’t sound like the smartest choice to gain members,” is what he said finally, unable to stay quiet in front of a man who was indirectly – and also, not that indirectly – causing distress to Louis. Harry set his jaw tighter.

Winston almost purred with delight when he was given an opportunity to insult the young alpha. “And they’re joining them just for fun? You make me laugh…” He’s face told otherwise. “Speaking of which, we need to get the statistics from the Border Control Centre. I need two more alphas with me.”

Des rose from his chair, looking grim. “As you wish. Harry?”

The young alpha sighed deeply in his mind, saying silent goodbye for the free time that he could have used for seeing Louis. “I’m ready, if you need me to.”

“No. That’s not what I was going to ask you to do,” his father said, not unkindly but not exactly politely either. He didn’t look like the proud father he had been just a month ago. “I want you fetch Liam. Tell him to come downstairs.”

 _‘Right,’_ Harry thought, _‘they’re still upset with me because of **it**.’_

He still bowed his head a bit and exited the room. Just outside the door, he ran into his mother. She hadn’t wanted to join the meeting and Harry wondered how Winston didn’t see how his power was falling apart around him, how everyone was starting to resent him and soon turn their backs on him. It would be deadly to him, in the end – sooner than later. It must have been a mighty object he was hiding from the rogues if it warranted all those sacrifices.

“Is it over already?” Anne asked the second the door closed behind Harry.

He shook his head. “No, I was asked to leave. Apparently my skills were more needed in finding them a new participant than _being_ the third participant.”

Her mother looked at him in sympathy. She might not have been as disappointed in him as Harry’s father but she was a bit worried what her son’s choice might mean to him.

“Be gentle. They’ve been a bit upset lately.”

Harry nodded in agreement. Particularly Zayn had been feeling a bit blue since the wedding and he had no idea why. It made him feel inefficient, not being able to help his friends that didn’t even tell him what was wrong. And a bit betrayed, too.

“Always, mum,” he answered before rushing upstairs, not wanting to anger anyone more than they were because of taking too long.

When he was behind the door of his friends’ shared room, he heard some murmurs from inside. He felt more than a little guilty for needing to interrupt them when softly knocked on the door.

Liam opened it slightly, letting Harry see his face that definitely seemed more doleful and Zayn, who was sitting on their bed, legs crossed. Harry’s happy greeting died in his throat. Everything felt so final.

“Is something wrong?” he asked carefully.

The door was opened wider. Liam shifted around nervously, buying time for his answer. Never a good sign; the alpha was their spokesperson as words were easy for him (if they didn’t demand big words that were multisyllabic). “We are thinking about moving back to Cheshire,” he said at last.

Harry’s stomach did a cart wheel. “Has something happened?”

“No, not at all – nothing that hasn’t been happening all this time. We are just fed up with all this social injustice thingy that Winston is running. Zayn’s been a bit under the weather all these months because of him and now that he saw Louis, he made his mind. He does not believe this getting better for us, better for him, no matter how long we stay here.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Harry said, feeling his throat getting tighter. He had never gotten without Liam on his side, not in twenty years. It was a long time to get used to someone’s company. Liam pulled him into a bone crushing hug and because they were about the same height, Harry took the liberty to sniffle all over his friend’s flannel clad shoulder.

“I know,” Liam said as he gave those bro-pats on his bag. “I wouldn’t just leave you, but…you know.”

Harry knew. His mate wanted it and what your mate wanted, came first – even when your friendship had been longer in time.

“Whatever is good for you two, Payno. Just not before you have carried out this; my father asked you to visit the Border Control. I believe he’s getting a bit impatient downstairs.” He gave an apologizing look at Zayn who left to the balcony for a smoke without a goodbye. It hurt a bit, despite the fact Harry knew he was angrier at everything else but him.

Liam sighed and released his grip. “Don’t mind him. Just give him some time and he’ll be over it.” And before he got out of the door, he said, “And call someone to hang out with. I don’t want you moping here alone.”

Harry did as he asked and dialed a very welcome number.

“Hi, Lou. Think you could come to the pack quarters? All the others have abandoned me, it seems.”

***

It was funny how Louis had been accustomed to the looks he had been given. At first they had been uninterested glances just because he was a beta walking around the rich part of the town. Then it had been the very interested and creepy glances because he had been seen with Harry. But now, they could smell his real status because he had given up suppressive medication and no one glanced at him with contempt.

It was also funny how a thing like smell changed people’s thoughts. None of the statuses was official before they had shown signs of the first rut or heat. That’s why it had been ridiculously easy to disappear from the face of earth and let everything continue like there hadn’t been a Louis Tomlinson in the omega league of his old school.

Yet, he was very much the same Louis Tomlinson who looked at the grandeur of the large mansion with barely concealed distaste. His mood was improved, though, by Harry who was keeping the door open for him, probably having stood there for a while and waiting for the omega’s form to appear at the end of the driveway.

Louis took a few skipping steps with a big smile on his face but was soon reminded of the soreness of his rear. It wasn’t painful exactly – not in an uncomfortable way. It was more like some higher awareness of the fact he had had something very big and very Harry in his private part. His whole body thrummed with the energy of the feeling.

“Hiya,” Louis said to the alpha when he reached the door. Harry looked appropriately delighted in seeing him and he soon guided the omega inside with his hand placed on Louis’ back.

“There’s just me, you, mum, Gemma and Zayn,” Harry explained as they made their way upstairs, hopefully to the direction of Harry’s bedroom. “And I have no idea where the latter three are.”

Harry stopped in front of a door. “Well, we are going have a little privacy, the?” Louis asked, to which Harry grinned winningly. He had a bun today and Louis was obsessed about the way it complimented his jawline. And the muscles on his forearm as the alpha opened the door.

Louis had never been that shy around Harry and so he promptly sat himself on the bed – it smelled like the alpha – and gestured Harry to do the same. But the taller man shook his head with a poorly repressed giddy smile.

“Not before I give you a present.”

Louis’ mood fell a bit. He didn’t like people buying him things, even though he had gotten used to it after Dan had notably lifted their standard of living. Including steak for every meal – Louis swore his mother had her eyes set on making up for the lost protein – that made Louis feel bloated, unable to stomach so heavy food after fifteen years of hardly any meat. He also swore he had doubled in size; his hips wider with a small tummy in the middle.

Harry was digging his closet for something before he pulled a plastic bag out and offered it to Louis who took it reluctantly. If it was too expensive, he must have the right to return it. But as he looked into the bag, he felt his eyes water a bit. He took out the packet of expensive suppressants and turned it in his hands.

“It’s not that much, I know. But you’re not using any at the moment and I thought that to prevent what happened in the wedding, you’ll need to have pills that are ‘ethanol-proof’,” Harry rambled. He was twisting his rings again, something he did when he didn’t know what else to do with his hands.

“’Ethanol-proof’?” Louis would have snorted but he was too busy with dragging the alpha to the bed by his long limbs. He felt his muscles relax as Harry brought his arms around the omega, molding their shapes together. It felt safe, it felt warm and it was definitely something he would like to stay in for forever but he had more pressing matters to discuss before that. “Do you regret it?”

“Hmmmh?”

Louis felt hot breath hit his hair. Harry seemed a bit more reserved than usual; his smiles hadn’t lasted as long as normal as if something was bothering him. The omega wanted nothing more than to help him – he had been raised as the care-taker of the family.

“What we did. Do you wish that it never happened?” _Or hope that it never happens again_ , he wanted to add but that would have been a bit over the board. Harry removed his chin from atop his head and leveled his gaze on Louis.

“Never.”

It was as simple as that. Louis felt relieved that it wasn’t regret that had made Harry sad. And a good thing, considering Louis’ plans.

“Good because I won’t use the suppressants,” he said, wrapping his arms around Harry’s middle.

Harry’s gaze flickered to hip lips. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.” Louis licked his lips. “I got a new job.”

Harry flipped them so Louis was under him. “Tell me more,” he murmured against Louis throat. The omega wasn’t sure if he was really listening but he _was_ sure that whatever got past his own lips was not coherent enough to understand anyway.

“I’m giving the suppressants up because…because my mum begged me to quit my last job,” he breathed, “and the new one is at Toys ‘R’ Us. It’s an omega job, the pay is…shitty but I’m able to work with kids.”

“I love children,” Harry said in agreement and Louis’ hips buckled unconsciously. Harry chuckled but it died shortly. Louis pushed him away from his neck; otherwise he couldn’t start any serious conversation.

“You’re upset about something. Tell me about it.” It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a request, and he simply needed to know.

Harry pursed his lips. “It’s about Liam and Zayn. They’re thinking about moving back to Cheshire.” Louis tensed but Harry pecked him on his forehead. “But I’m staying here and I’ll miss them,” Harry finished and Louis felt super bad for being grateful about the alpha’s longing for his friends. Was he allowed to be happy about something that made Harry unhappy? Still, he nuzzled his face into the alpha’s chest, inhaling the spicy scent and humming to let him know he had his full compassion.

“It’s about Winston, right?” Louis could relate – better than he would like to. “I’m surprised he wasn’t holed up here again. He’s rarely seen out and about. Some say he’s hiding something.”

Harry’s hands tightened around him. “That’s what my father thought he’s doing. Thankfully, neither one is here but visiting one of the Centers. I was uninvited because they are not too happy with me right now. On the other hand, that gave me time to spend with you.”

Louis looked at the lone curl that had escaped the hair tie. “And why are they unimpressed? Were you unable to remember what something was in French?”

“Twat,” Harry said but it sounded like an endearment. “They found out what we did. They want me to be happy, of course, with the person I like but they never meant I could fall for a beta. It’s a big thing, I guess, to sleep with someone for the first time and it should be done between Mates-to-be. Also the reason why your heat lasted for twelve hours, I believe. And now my parents are under the impression our bloodline will die after me because we’re not able to produce children.”

Harry wasn’t able to fully continue the light, joking air to the end. Louis felt bad for him because the alpha had withheld information from those he loved just because he had been sworn to secrecy by Louis.

“And what if I correct that impression?”

Something sparked in Harry’s eyes. “You would?”

“For you, yes. It’s not a secret any longer,” he said, looking at the invitingly pink lips again. _‘Why was kissing easier when your inhibitions were down because of the heat? Oh why, oh why…’_

Thankfully, Harry took the initiative.

The lips pressed to him gently at first but got firmer once Louis responded enthusiastically. The omega had never been a fan of coffee but the lingering taste of it in Harry’s mouth was surprisingly welcome – along with the way he almost seemed to caress Louis’ lips. He certainly knew what he was doing.

The alpha stopped the kisses but didn’t pull back. His next words tingled as they hit Louis’ corner of the mouth. “Does that mean what I think it implied? That we are official, then?”

“Mmmhm,” Louis mumbled, chasing the lips and plating a quick kiss on them. “In a very, very, _very_ exclusive relationship. I’m a possessive bitch, just so you know.”

“What a coincidence! I would rather keep you to myself, too.” They were now both smiling so big that kissing became an impossible feat. And right then, while they were still in their embrace, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, a knock came from the door.

“Harry? Are you there?”

Harry shuffled a bit further from their clinging pose. He gave Louis a quick, questioning glance before answering, “Yeah. What is it, mum?”

“It’s your father. He just called. The Border Control Centre was attacked. Someone got hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo,  
> Sorry it's *checks the calendar* jesus, three days late. I was busy watching the Eurovision and so on and so on. Also for the first time, I had a small writers block. Eeeek!  
> But no worries - I'm not abandoning the story! I just couldn't deside how to write the occurences in this chapter.
> 
> Thanks for comments and kudos! Can't wait to hear more from you! xxx -M


	9. Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: character death (trust me, you'll love it)

“Ouch. I would like to keep my leg, please.”

Liam’s mumbled complains were being ignored as Dr. Merriweather tended his wound – they had decided not to disturb the newlywed doctor. She found great amusement in the fact that this was the second time she was trying to heal similar cut, pointing out how they seemed prone to limb injuries.

The hurt alpha was lying on one of the living room couches, left leg propped up while Zayn had a stranglehold of his hand, not having loosened his grip since his Mate was carried inside, dripping blood in an even trail.

Thankfully most of it had turned out to be false alarm.

The small gash on his brow had made the blood spread on his face menacingly even though the real damage was not that severe. The leg was another matter entirely.

“Is there any sign of him?”

Harry turned to the direction of the hushed voices of his father and some members of Security. He felt a little guilty to feel so much relief about the fact his father was uninjured; but he also wished it had been him. If he had been with them, Zayn and Liam would be happily on their way to Cheshire by now.

“No, there are troops searching the area. No witnesses. It happened during the day, Sir. An attack has never happened during the day,” said one of the Security personnel. They all seemed quite shaken.

A burly one behind them said, “At this point, it’s safe to assume he was taken captive by the rogues if not killed.”

Liam let out an aggrieved, grousing noise.

Harry came to sit on the floor beside the omega who smelled strongly of smoke and helped him to calm Liam down. The alpha seemed paler as he stubbornly wiggled around and once the others left the room, he gestured them to lean closer.

“Fault,” he breathed, “that Winston is missing. It’s my fault.”

Zayn shook his head. “Babe-“

“I mean it, Z.” There was desperation in his brown eyes that soon turned to Harry. “I killed him.”

Harry looked at his friend in wonder. Zayn’s hand was frozen, too, from where it had stroked his Mate’s hair. The alpha knew his friend’s love for his Mate was strong and that he would do anything for him, but would he really go as far as kill someone. Harry didn’t think so, but Liam’s eyes were sincere, not a single trace of lie in there. _‘So this might not be the guilt of a survivor, after all…’_

Liam seemed to get rid of some of the pain killer induced haziness as he elaborated, “Christ, of course I didn’t _personally_ kill him – I would never do that! – but I let them take him. I could have stopped them but I remembered all his sneers towards Zayn and I just… _snapped_. I disobeyed orders and possibly caused the death of our leader.”

The alpha looked seriously unhappy, whether it was at himself or targeted at someone else, Harry wasn’t sure, but he had as good as forgiven him the whole ordeal. He thought that, if he had ever been on his position, he would have done the same.

Zayn’s face was expressionless but his eyes were swimming with emotion. It seemed that he, too, had forgiven Liam ages ago.

“You don’t know he’s dead,” he said to soothe his alpha’s distress.

Liam let out a pained exhalation. “It’s even _worse,_ then. He could tell everyone how I abandoned him. You’ve seen what kind of man he is. All talk and such. He could have me thrown into prison before they get so say ‘guilty as charged’.”

“But mates come over leader-“

“In situations where both their lives are threatened! Which this was not. Zayn was safe inside the pack quarters. You should know the law better than anyone, Harry.”

“Fuck the law,” Zayn hissed from beside them, causing the alphas to look at him in surprise. “Mates and their Soul Bonds came far before laws. The connection between an omega and an alpha is older than the damn _civilization_. If loyalty is a crime, I’ll become one of the outlaws myself.”

A silence stretched after that – no one knowing what to further say about the matter. A hand touched Harry’s shoulder gently and he knew who it would be without turning to look. The smell of citrus soon enveloped him.

“Hi,” Louis said, taking a seat on the floor between Harry and Zayn and settling a fruit bowl on his lap. “I heard your little chat. Do you think he was taken because of this object thingy he has? If he had it with him?”

Harry felt like kissing him in gratitude.

“See?” he said to Liam. “If he had something with him that the rogues wanted, there’s no way you could have stopped this from happening without getting yourself killed.”

Liam’s face showed deep concentration. A scar was now dividing his left brow in two and it frankly looked a bit ridiculous. “Nah, he didn’t seem like someone protecting something other than his life. Screamed like a banshee when they took him.”

“ _Coward_ ,” Louis spit out.

A noise came from outside the room and they all raised their heads as Harry’s father stomped in.

“They found him. In pieces.”

Louis looked a bit green. So did Liam.

“What do you mean ‘in pieces’?” Zayn asked before Harry could shut him up. He feared the answer would be too much for Louis.

“An arm here, leg there. Not pretty.”

A clank was heard as the fruit bowl hit the floor and Louis ran out of the room. Harry looked at his retreating back in concern.

***

“Ugh,” Louis groaned as he hugged the toilet bowl like it was his only support.

The cool porcelain was heavenly against his cheek and the odiousness of the whole position played second fiddle when compared to the churning in his stomach. Never would he try eating a whole bowl of grapes again – especially when someone talked about corpses being cut to pieces.

A knock came from the unlocked door.

“Come in,” he rasped, not moving a muscle.

The slightly ajar door was opened wider and a familiar woman stepped in, though Louis had not personally talked to her, he remembered seeing her at the wedding. But the eyes and dimples gave her away, anyway.

Anne kneeled beside him and opened the cupboard under the sink, taking out a light green towel that she wet under the tap. Brushing the omega’s fringe away, she patted the moist fabric over Louis’ face; and he _was_ eternally grateful for it but didn’t feel like he deserved all that for deceiving them.

“You’re the beta from the store, aren’t you? I think I own an explanation.”

Louis grimaced. He had known this moment would come eventually. As he proceeded to tell her everything she needed to know, he didn’t spare the details except on few occasions that he would rather keep just between Harry and himself. He blushed furiously when he came to the wedding part and why he didn’t have to neutralize his scent anymore – he was, after all, talking with the woman who knew Louis had banged her son. Not the most comfortable situation, you can imagine.

“Thank you for telling me,” Anne said once Louis had stuttered the last bits of the story. She didn’t look angry about being kept in the dark – the opposite, actually.

Louis was relieved.

“He seems much happier, you know.” Louis stopped frowning about the taste in his mouth and looked Harry’s mother, a bit taken aback. “When we came here, it felt like we were suffocating him, his smiles were duller than usual…but now he has gotten that spark back. Because of you.”

“Me?” he quizzed. “Isn’t that a bit presumptuous…?”

Anne shook her head. “It’s there. In his every look that he sends you. He hangs to your every word and every smile like they give him the reason to breathe for. It’s the Styles way to fall in love; head over heels.”

Louis smiled weakly. It was clear that Harry’s parents still loved each other very much – the way it should be. It sometimes was just so hard to remember the lifelong commitment of Bonding when you lived amongst betas.

But at the thought of Mr. Styles, he recalled what he had briefly wondered. “What happens now that the leader is killed? Who will take the lead?”

“I believe Mr. Winston had a distinct relative, Simon Cowell, in Los Angeles. If he declines the offered leadership, Des has the right to, as the co-leader.”

 _‘So they are staying,’_ Louis though, some of the unconscious tension leaving him. He was at the stage where he felt like ripping in two: staying with his family or being with Harry – hopefully he wouldn’t need to choose.

“How about a vote?” he blurted out.

Anne looked perplexed. “Vote?”

“Yeah, show us, the people, that a change is coming. It may not please the rich but it’s about time they don’t get everything they want. A real election so the public can decide who they wish to see in the saddle.”

Anne gave him a once over like she needed another look to make sure she had seen right. “You are surprisingly bold about voicing your thoughts…for so young a person.” Then she smiled. “You and Harry will make a good couple.”

Louis smirked faintly. “If you say s- _ugh_.”

Anne gripped his shoulder comfortingly. “Are you sure you’re okay. I’m sure I can call Dr. Merriweather back.”

“No, no, no,” the omega uttered in alarm. “There’s no need to. I just ate something a tad too exotic for my stomach.”

“Or for someone else’s stomach.” Anne looked at him with that mother-knows-best face. “Have you considered you could be pregnant, love?”

Louis face turned ashen and he promptly vomited violently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooopsie daisie...  
> Late again. This time I have no other excuses but that 150K fic I was reading these last three days.  
> But I love you guys, so here it is. Only one chapter left and you have no idea what I'm planning to drag you through [incert manical laughter]  
> Comments and kudos if you liked it <3
> 
> Love you all xx -M


	10. Election

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the tittle says. The last bit is kinda an epilogue :)

The August sun was unbearably hot against Louis’ dark t-shirt as he walked down the road, carrying a plastic bag – the only evidence of where he had just been aside from the words currently drifting through his head.

_“…a disruption in your hormone balance caused by the zygote. It possibly was worsened by your digestive system that wasn’t used to the toxicity of grapes. It should be fine but I advise caution, for you could have some hereditary predisposition for morning sickness and heartburns during pregnancy. Although it also may help if you Bond with your partner which highly recommend – and not just for you but for the baby’s psyche as well.”_

Never had he thought he would be given a doctor’s order to get some alpha to drool on his neck and mark him theirs for eternity. He simply wouldn’t have believed that he would actually be looking forward to follow the order and be glad to be Bonded.

Louis sighed.

“Louis!”

He turned around at the familiar voice. Luke Newton was running towards him, hand waving vigorously to get his attention as he sped along the crosswalk, towards Louis’ side of the main road. They hadn’t seen each other since the wedding. The past month felt like a long time.

Luke’s inquisitive eyes roamed around him for a while before he spoke out, somewhat wistfully.

“So it is true,” he said.

The omega gave him an apologizing shrug but the beta didn’t seem too annoyed because he, if anyone, understood the pros and cons of working at a shop that is located in the city centre. Lying about one’s biological status was mild compared to what some others had to go through.

“It’s nice to see you happy,” Luke said. “Were you shopping?”

“Nah, I needed to visit the doctor’s office.” Louis shook his bag.

Luke’s slightly downturned mouth morphed into a concerned pucker. “Oh, is something wrong? You’re okay…right?”

Louis smiled secretively and answered, “Never better.” The details were meant only for one person and one person only and who Louis had promised to inform first.

“I haven’t seen you around lately. I know you quit the job but you haven’t been wandering around our streets…”

Louis lifted an eyebrow. _How would you know unless you’ve been especially searching for me?_ Luke blushed as he himself realized the implication behind his words.

“I live at the pack quarters nowadays,” Louis explained, taking pity of the man before him. “I moved there three weeks ago – officially, anyway.”

“Ah, so you _are_ with the younger Mr. Styles, then.” Louis smirked a bit; Harry would have corrected Luke in a blink. “He’s nice I guess. Polite, charming, handsome…I’ve heard my fair share of rumors about him. He’s quite the reputation.” Louis’ fingers twitched. “…And oh, yes. I thought I should warn you that Mr. Magee has stood as a candidate, too. He has a lot of old customers that liked Mr. Winston and want someone who would follow on his footsteps as leader the Doncaster pack.”

Louis scoffed. “Follow bullocks’ steps, more like. The children should be free to walk around in the city centre, and that there should be less cars in the future _and_ better living conditions for Beta District – the leader can start with building a playground, for instance.”

Louis didn’t bother lowering his voice even though a few omegas were close by, no doubt listening in to their very strongly opinionated conversation Louis had boldly started in the middle of the pavement. It wasn’t the first time and definitely wouldn’t be the last this month.

“Well, you live at the place where all the decisions are made. They’d be stupid to not listen to you.”

Louis could hold his smug expression in check. “At least Harry does. But he knows better than to ignore me.”

He fiddled nervously with the bag. Harry was probably becoming more and more anxious the longer it took from Louis to return. Actually he was a bit surprised the alpha hadn’t been sitting in the waiting room already judging from the lamenting whimpers he let out when Louis left for his appointment.

“Well, it’s been nice seeing you.” He cringed as Luke’s face fell. “I promise I’m not ditching you or anything but I’m – kind of like – well, expected at somewhere.”

“Oh.” The beta perked up considerably. _“Oh_. Of course. I don’t want to keep anyone waiting,” he said and shot Louis a quick smile. “We’ll keep in touch?”

“You’ve my word for it.”

 

***

 

Louis was welcomed by the now familiar walls full of paintings of all the leaders within the last couple hundred years as he headed upstairs to the room he and Harry now shared.

He found Harry sitting on their bed, but the alpha nearly sprang back on his feet once Louis opened the door. He looked at Louis, biting his lip but when the omega just continued smiling that, small, secretive, I-know-something-you-don’t smile, he had to prompt: “Well? What did they say?”

In answer, Louis reached for the bag, drew out the bottle of medicine and shook in a bit so the pre-natals rattled inside their container.

The alpha let out an utterance somewhere between a relieved sigh, a pleased noise and a happy exclamation and spread his arms wide open, inviting Louis in. The smaller man couldn’t refuse; being away from him felt like trying to defy gravity.

“God, I hope my father wins the election,” Harry mumbled against Louis’ still flat stomach. “It will be a better place for us, and for the baby as well.”

“I love when you talk all domestic to me,” Louis rasped, playfully sexy but expecting the result and no sooner than the words left his mouth, Harry pulled him down on top of him. Things escalated from there.

Later they were lying on Harry’s bed, the alpha caressing Louis’ naked skin, mostly giving attention to his stomach area – he had swatted his hands away when he had touched his nipples. They seemed to be falling off.

“I saw Niall the other day,” Harry said quietly. He was now drawing letters on the skin between Louis’ hips. _B – A – B – Y_. “Punched my arm – rather forcefully I might add.”

Leave it for the brash, couldn’t-care-less-about-the-cunt-of-a-social-ladder attitude of Niall to make it acceptable to clobber an alpha.

“He asked me to take care of you and threatened that if there’s no Bond Mark on your neck the next time we meet, I’ll be a dead man – in the face of all possible following charges of treason and attempted murder of your executive.”

Louis’ lips twitched into a fond smile that had stopped surprising him since the umpteenth time. “Really? I was ordered to Bond with you, as well.”

 “On whose orders?”

 “ _Doctor’s_ order.”

Harry hummed, appreciating, and nibbled the omega’s throat. “Can’t disregard that, can we?”

“I thought you were more romantic,” Louis pointed out and earned himself a more forceful bite just under his ear.

“We have time for the sappy stuff later on. Was I the first to know? About the baby, I mean.”

Louis gave him a sad look. He had gone to the bathroom and called his mum from Harry’s phone right after Anne had found him bent over the toilet bowl. She had said she had known it all along and they’d sniffled together for a good half an hour when Louis told her Harry would be the one for him. Jay had given them her full consent to Bond.

Also Gemma knew, by some weird woman instinct, he guessed. Did it become more potent when you can’t have kids yourself? Probably.

“I’m happy when it makes my brother happy,” she had said to him when she got enough of his apologizing looks.

Louis could only imagine how hard could be to see pregnant people glowing all happy-like, your gaze zeroing in on them by some hidden masochistic streak.

“Beside the doctor,” he finally said, “you’re fourth. Almost fifth but I didn’t really tell Luke about it.”

Harry frowned. “Luke?”

“You’ve talked to him.” That didn’t lessen the alpha’s pout at all. “He’s a beta,” he tried again.

Harry’s fingers danced on the skin of his stomach again. _P – R – I –C – K._

“Hey,” Louis complained in mid-laughter, “the baby could have felt that.”

Harry withdrew his hands fast, then, reconsidered it. “You’re just messing with me. You’re not _that_ far along. Fetuses start hearing things on the beginning of the second trimester, I heard.”

“I’d better have a Mark on my neck before I hit my fifth month, then.”

 

***

 

64 %

That was how many of the votes had been counted so far. They had started from the city centre and were now proceeding towards the outskirts of Doncaster, towards the poorest parts of the Beta District. Harry Magee and Des Styles were neck to neck, their support having risen steadily in proportion to the amount of votes that had been passes through the hands of the impartial supervisors.

Louis gripped Harry’s hand and kept his other on the top of his small, just distinguishable bump. They were sitting in the edge of the large hall that contained all the participants with their families and closest friends. Enormous monitors were on each wall, showing the progress of the counting of the votes and the areas from which they were currently waiting for results.

They were relatively calm about it despite the very present risk of Mr. Magee’s victory. But the poll seemed good – the public had been actively taking part in this – and they trusted them to vote for what was best for them. Still, they considered Des to be their best shot and thus they were cuddling together, minding their own business, shutting off the noise of the outside world.

A blonde reported parted from the masses of people, heading their way and dragging her cameraman with her like the many others had before her.

The mic soon found its place just in front of Harry’s face and the woman started her rapid fire questions.

“Now, Harry – may I call you Harry?” She didn’t wait for the okay. Louis hissed at her quietly. “What does it feel to be on the third place? Do you believe that their lead of ten percent is possible to catch up with?”

“Well, my father is on the shared first place so it’s half the win for me,” Harry explained pleasantly.

Harry hadn’t really been taking it seriously, sure that his father would win anyway. Mostly he had just dragged Louis through shops that sold baby clothes and sometimes Louis had stopped to talk to other parents and the beta and omega workers. His mate had definitely not been discouraging him about sharing his own opinions, often being notably fond beside his intensely gesturing omega.

The woman pursed her lips. “Very well, but truly, all this modesty nonsense aside, how do you feel about all this? It was instigated by your Mate here, wasn’t it?”

The camera turned towards Louis, giving the chair viewers their share of interpersonal drama to quench their thirst for rumors. Harry’s hand came subtly around Louis’ waist but still possessively enough that the beta cameraman turned his lens towards his alpha.

“I’m proud of him, of course. Couldn’t have found a wiser and more just Mate even if I had searched the whole world for one,” Harry told them in all seriousness, making Louis blush prettily next to him. The woman cooed and brought up his parents that were watching the show from Dan’s LED telly.

“And what is your opinion about the rogues,” the reporter asked lastly, cramming all the questions so she could get an answer to as many of the worrisome situations as possible in the short time range, “or should I say, the participants of the anti-Winston campaign?”

“Yeah, well, I’m quite sure none of us knew the real extent of his questionable ways to lead this pack. As I had said before, I think it is alright if we allow a possibility to return here for the persons involved in this campaign _if_ they have families that still reside here. What comes to those with no connection to Doncaster, they know the consequences of their actions and should know that we’ll be taking legal action – press charges for causing mental and physical harm for the people they captured against their will.”

“And you’ll keep to your promise?” she baited finally. “Build playgrounds and improve the life standard of the lower socioeconomic classes and form peer support groups for the captured people and their families?”

Harry’s voice was steady and sure as he dimpled towards the camera. “I will.”

“And one last thing, Harry, before-“

She was cut off as the new results started to appear on the big screens, the announcer stepping behind the mic stand, holding the remote to control the screens’ contents. He clicked to show them the bar chart.

“Now, the votes of the Eastern Red Zone are added to our earlier results,” he explained as the charts started to move gradually, Mr. Magee’s dropping a bit, Des’ staying surprisingly still but – for the amazement of them all -  a rank outsider started to gain votes with a vengeance.

Harry let out a noise that resembled a dying goose.

“Well, we seem to have a new winner candidate, here,” said the man, his newsreader-like voice slightly unsteady – from shock, possibly. “The younger Mr. Styles seems to have gained 87% of Red Zone’s votes, and has a mighty head start for when we get the last ten present of the overall results.”

There was a loud buzzing sound as the people collectively started to talk, the press fighting for their turn with the young, possible future leader. Within the next seventy five minutes that were the most hectic of Louis’ so far short life, the results didn’t waver.

The public had spoken, Des had congratulated Harry many times with a teary eyed and infinitely proud Anne beside him and the young leader and his Mate had retired, claiming all the stress was bad for the baby even though the alpha was more shaken by the situation than his pregnant omega.

“So,” Louis said to Harry once they were inside their room. “It seems that I ended up as the pack leader’s Mate anyway.”

Harry brushes the omega’s subtly rounded stomach and smiled. “No, you ended up as _my_ Mate. The rest of it was just a surprising bonus.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you, me and our little Boo. But how are we ever going to tell the kid you knocked me up in a _bloody car!?”_

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on fire!! (not literally, tho)  
> Thank you for y'all who still hanged around when I abandoned this fic for two months. Note to self: don't try to write several stories at the same time or you'll start preferring one of the over the other!  
> Hope it was a pleasing end to the story for you. Comments, kudos, anything would be lovely again, feedback is appreciated so I can become better in my next fics (I have 2 in mind: a pirate au and a criminal minds/whatever au where harry is a cop and louis is...well, a mystery but neither of them is A/B/O)
> 
> So much love for every one of you! xxxooxxoo -M

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii,  
> This is just an idea I had in my mind. Updates at least once a week and ten chapters is just a guideline btw. Tell me how you think! I'll add more to the story, the more people are interested. So comments, kudos? Everything from you makes my day <3
> 
> All the love. xx -M


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